The CBI has arrested the seventh accused in the alleged Chittaranjan Locomotive Works bribery case of ₹1.80 lakh.

Ramesh Chand Dhiman, a private conduit, who was absconding for the last two months was arrested by the agency from Himachal Pradesh on Tuesday. He was presented in the court of special duty magistrate and was sent to one day remand. On Wednesday, he was produced in the special CBI court and sent to judicial custody.

The CBI had filed a supplementary chargesheet against the seventh accused in January.

The Case

The case was registered by CBI on February 9, 2022, against six accused, including Sonu Arora, Rajan Gupta – both directors of M/S EC Blades & Tools Pvt. Ltd, Chandigarh; Parveen Vyas, a proprietor of M/s Auspice Autocraft Pvt Ltd, Varanasi; his two employees Pawan Kumar Singh and Vinod Kumar; and Ravi Shekhar Sinha, the then principal chief material manager, Chittaranjan Locomotive Works (CLW), Indian Railways, West Bengal and unknown public servants and private persons.

The next day, CBI laid a trap at the residence of accused Ravi Shekhar Sinha where Sinha and Pawan were arrested for accepting and giving bribes of ₹1.80 lakh. Further, the remaining four accused, including Sonu Arora, Rajan Gupta, Praveen Vyas and Vinod Kumar, were also arrested by the CBI.

On April 4, 2022, a chargesheet was filed against the six accused.

Allegations

There are allegations that Sonu Aroa and Rajan Gupta, who were also approved vendors of Chittaranjan Locomotive Works (CLW), Indian Railways, were in criminal conspiracy with different senior officers of railways for obtaining undue favour from them in the award of contract, processing of bills etc by paying illegal gratification.

The duo used the services of one Praveen Vyas for contacting and delivering bribes to senior railway officers posted in remote locations.

Supplementary chargesheet

During the investigation, CBI got to know that Ramesh Chand Dhiman joined M/s Kuteer Equipments Pvt Ltd, a sister concern of M/s EC Blades and Tools Pvt Ltd at Panchkula in July 2005, as an office assistant and worked till February 2022. After registration of the case, he was terminated and did not join the company.

An investigation established that in January 2022, Dhiman handed over the bribe of ₹4.34 lakhs to accused Vinod Kumar on directions of accused Sonu and Rajan Gupta.

The supplementary chargesheet mentioned that he had not joined the investigation and was absconding. Stating that there was enough evidence against Dhiman’s role in the conspiracy, a supplementary chargesheet was filed against him and six others under Section 120 B (criminal conspiracy) of the Indian Penal Code read with Sections 7, 7A, 8 and 12 of PC Act by the CBI Chandigarh.