Railway Recruitment Board chairman sent to jail

HYDERABAD - The special Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) court here Thursday sent suspended Mumbai Railway Recruitment Board (RRB) chairman S.M. Sharma and another official to judicial custody till July 1 in the railways job scam.

Along with Sharma, G. Sethi, the senior divisional personnel officer (SDPO) at Raipur was also sent to judicial custody.

The CBI, which arrested the two officials Wednesday, moved a petition for their custody for further interrogation. The hearing on the petition was adjourned to Friday.

Sharma and Sethi were later shifted to Chanchalguda Central Jail.

Public prosecutor Venkatramana told reporters that CBI named Sharma and Sethi as accused number 16 and 17 in the cash-for-job scandal.

So far, 10 accused have been arrested by the CBI and search is on for seven other accused in different parts of the country.

The CBI court Wednesday remanded eight accused including Sharma’s son Vivek Bhardwaj to CBI custody for three days. Others included A.K. Jagannathan, a former additional divisional railways manager (ADRM) at Raipur and his son Srujan.

The investigating agency had last week unearthed the racket, involving railway officials and agents. They allegedly charged nearly Rs.3.5 lakh from each candidate for recruitment tests for assistant loco pilots and assistant station masters held early this month.

The investigations revealed that at least 444 candidates were supplied question papers. Sharma, Bhardwaj and their accomplices are believed to have pocketed over Rs.15.5 crore in these deals.

The CBI suspects that the accused were running the well-organised racket for the last 10 years. The interrogation of Sharma and other accused is expected to bring out the role of several others involved.