Overview
- The CBI’s Visakhapatnam anti-corruption unit arrested Senior Section Engineer Bapiraju and Srichand, the son of Yella Constructions’ managing director, after recovering Rs 15 lakh in a trap on Sunday.
- The arrests relate to a Rs 179.50 crore Automatic Block Signalling contract awarded to a Ganapathi–Yella joint venture that later claimed about Rs 7 crore as an early-completion bonus.
- Investigators allege officials in the Chief Signal and Telecommunications Engineer (CSTE) Projects office manipulated and altered dates in the bonus file to facilitate approval of the payment to the joint venture.
- A formal CBI case names the engineer, four private-company representatives and unidentified public servants and private persons, and searches are under way in Visakhapatnam, Vijayawada, Pithapuram and Hyderabad.
- The two arrested will be produced before a special CBI court in Vijayawada as the agency collects evidence and the probe could prompt tighter scrutiny of bonus approvals in Indian Railways.