New Delhi/Chandigarh, May 4
A Special Court today remanded Railway Minister Pawan Kumar Bansal’s nephew Vijay Singla along with three others in four-day CBI custody. The probe agency has so far arrested six persons, including Railway Board member Mahesh Kumar, in the graft case.

Special CBI Judge Swarana Kanta Sharma remanded Singla, his aide Sandip Goyal, Dharmendra Kumar and Vivek Kumar till May 8 for custodial interrogation by the agency after upholding its plea for questioning.

The four were arrested in Chandigarh yesterday after the CBI registered a case against Mahesh Kumar, Member (Staff) of the Railway Board, and seven others for offences under the Prevention of Corruption Act and criminal conspiracy under the IPC.

Mahesh Kumar, the main accused in the case, was arrested in Mumbai, while Narayan Rao Manjunath, managing director of GG Tronics India Pvt Ltd, was taken into custody in Bangalore.

They were being brought to Delhi and expected to be produced in court on Monday, CBI sources said. The CBI claimed Manjunath was in touch with Mahesh Kumar who was seeking a more lucrative post of Member (Electrical) in the Railway Board. In a release, it alleged that Goyal, who acted as a mediator between Kumar and Singla, had demanded an illegal gratification of Rs 10 crore from Kumar, who was then the General Manager of Western Railway, for securing the post. It alleged that Goyal was further in touch with two other persons in Chandigarh.

In the meantime, Kumar was promoted as Member (Staff) in the Railway Board and requested Chandigarh-based Goyal to get him an additional charge of General Manager, Western Railway and Signal & Telecommunications, till the time he was appointed as Member (Electrical). Goyal allegedly asked Kumar to pay Rs 2 crore immediately and the balance amount at the time of being appointed as Member (Electrical), the CBI said.

The Member (Staff) Railway Board asked Manjunath and other businessmen/ industrialists dealing with the Railways to arrange Rs 2 crore for making the alleged payment to Goyal and Singla. The businessmen agreed to arrange the money in lieu of official favours, the CBI claimed.

But Manjunath could arrange only Rs 90 lakh that was paid to Goyal yesterday in Chandigarh allegedly on behalf of Mahesh Kumar.

The CBI laid a trap and caught Goyal and Singla with the bribe money. It later conducted searches in Chandigarh, Panchkula, Bangalore and Delhi and seized incriminating documents.

Earlier in the day, the CBI brought the four accused to Delhi from Chandigarh.

Apart from confiscating Rs 90 lakh in cash that Singla had allegedly accepted as bribe, the CBI seized his computer and some incriminating documents. Sources said more than 10 property-related unnamed documents were recovered from Singla’s residence. CBI sources said Sandip Goyal had a share in the bribe amount.