All the 6,148 wooden sleepers -- supplied by a Gondia-based private firm Vizag Sleepers Syndicate through the Gujarat State Forest Development Corporation (GSFDC) to Shahdara Track Depot of the Northern Railways in New Delhi -- were found to be sub-standard or defective and have thus remained unused for long.

Senior CBI officials said here that the suspected railway officials threw caution to the winds while conniving with some unknown authorities of the GSFDC and the private firm to procure the sub-standard and defective sleeper units. The offence was registered here, sometime after May this year, as the supplies originated from Gondia which falls under the Nagpur unit.

So far, an Assistant Engineer (AE) and aPermanent Way Inspector (PWI) of the Shahdara Track Depot (NR) and a Sleeper Passing Officer (SPO) of South Eastern Railways, Calcutta, have been identified as the accused though, no arrest was reported.

Talking to mediapersons here on Wednesday, CBI joint director (Western Region) Mahendra Kumavat did not rule out involvement of some more railway officials and GSFDC authorities.

The case stems from an agreement reached between the Railway Board and the GSFDC, Vadodara, for supply of wooden sleepers to different railway divisions.

The Chief Administrative Officer (Construction), Kashmiri Gate was allotted 15,890 wooden sleepers and the GSFDC supplied 7,728 of these to the former. The remaining consignment of 8,162 sleepers could not be procured due to paucity of funds and the CAO requested the Railway Board to let the supply be made to the Shahdara track depot.

The railway officials then connived with their counterparts in GSFDC and 6,148 defective/sub-standard sleepers was supplied at Shahdaradepot.

Prior to that, the SPO, SE Railway, Calcutta, inspected the consignment at Gondia and passed the same despite the defects. He allegedly incorporated false and misleading details about their size, quantity and quality in his inspection memo.

Subsequently, the Railway Board released 75 per cent of the amount payable to the GSFDC. The AE and the PWI were supposed to check the wooden sleepers and report the defects in an EG-15 form so that the consigner could be informed about the defects and the resultant rejection. The duo did not do so to facilitate the release of the remaining 25 per cent payment.

For the purpose of investigations, the CBI authorities have refrained from identifying the three railway officials booked so far. Investigations are on.

SBI RACKET BUSTED: The CBI here claimed to have unearthed a major fraud amounting to Rs 51.43 lakh, in the State Bank of India's branch at Ballarpur in Chandrapur district following arrest of two suspects including the branch manager,recently.

K E Ravichandran, who headed the SBI branch since February last year, faces charges of conniving with an affluent business family of Chandrapur while discounting a series of cheques, drawn on another bank, which later turned out to be forged ones. The cheques were furnished by the Aroras.

Curiously, at no point of time did the SBI higher-ups considered it fit to approach the police after the forgery was detected. It was only after the CBI cracked the matter `through our own sources' and registered a case that the bank higher-ups approached them with a formal plaint, Superintendent of Police (CBI Nagpur Unit) P M Mohan said here on Wednesday evening.

The other accused has been identified as Manoj Arora, authorised signatory of the firms run by Arora family. Only Rs 53,000 of the Rs 51.43 lakh alleged to have been withdrawn fraudulently from the bank, is said to have been recovered.