Patna: Police have launched a massive manhunt against an absconding railway engineer accused of selling the railway engine to a scrap shop to make a fast buck in what authorities describe as the first such incident in Bihar. The train engine had been kept at Purnia railway station, more than 350km east of Patna.
Reports said the engineer Rajiv Ranjan Jha was cutting the steam engine into pieces with the help of a gas cutter last week when the local railway officials on duty asked him to stop it. Jha instantly showed them a letter said to be issued from the additional divisional mechanical engineer but the officials weren’t satisfied with its content and reported the matter to higher authorities.
By the time the senior authorities responded, the man had already taken away the dismantled parts in alleged connivance with some lower rung railway staff on duty and sold them to a scrap shop. The value of the sold old engine is stated to be in millions. The authorities have placed the accused engineer under suspension and also registered a case against him.
“He [engineer] used a fake official missive to sell the railway engine. No such letter regarding sale of engines to the scrap shop has been issued by the office,” Divisional Mechanical Engineer Sanjay Paswan told the media on Monday, adding the accused engineer had been suspended with immediate effect.
Divisional Railway Manager (DRM), Samastipur, Alok Agarwal said an inquiry had been ordered into the incident and action had been taken against a few railway officials. “The matter is very serious and the probe is underway to bring the culprits to book,” the DRM said.
The police have launched a massive manhunt to nab the accused engineer who has gone into hiding soon after the scam surfaced. The police have also failed to locate the truck which transported the engine’s fragmented parts nor were they able to seize the sold scrap.
The fresh scrap scam comes shortly after the fraudsters sold dozens of wagons and wheels estimated to be Rs340 million from Jamalapur rail engine factory in Munger district. As per the report, the scam took place between 2013 and 2017. The matter is currently investigated by both the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and Enforcement Directorate (ED).
Last month, anti-corruption sleuths raided the residence of chief electrical engineer Ravish Kumar posted at Hajipur, headquarters of east-central railways in the state, and recovered Rs7.6 million in cash, gold jewelries worth over Rs5 million and purchase deeds of several land plots. The disproportionate assets of the engineer found during the raids conducted on November 26 were calculated to be 183 percent more than his known sources of income, according to the anti-corruption bureau sleuths.
