Railway officer arrested for taking bribe of Rs 50,000

Mumbai, Jun 17 (PTI) A senior Railway officer has been caught while allegedly accepting a bribe of Rs 50,000 from a painting contractor, CBI officials said today. Balwinder Singh Walia, senior Divisional Engineer (East), was trapped in his office in Bhusawal, 450 km from here, in Jalgaon district, they said. He has been arrested. "Balwinder Singh Walia was caught accepting a bribe of Rs 50,000 to sanction bills of Rs six lakh for painting work done at Bhusawal by the complainant (contractor)," Amitabh Thakur, Superintendent, CBI's Anti-Corruption Bureau, said. A complaint was received against the 1995 batch Indian Railway Service officer that he was allegedly demanding Rs 1 lakh in bribe from the complainant to clear his long pending bills. A CBI team laid a trap last evening and caught Walia taking half of the bribe amount demanded, he said. "Apart from the bribe money, incriminating documents and Rs 55,000 in cash were also seized from his office," Thakur added. Searches were conducted at the residence of Walia in Bhusawal and his three flats in Nagpur, Thakur said. It has also come to light that Walia had 11 bank accounts, one bank locker and 400 grams of gold jewellery, Thakur said. The Railway officer was today produced before a court, which remanded him in CBI custody till June 24, he added.PTI VM RSY