HYDERABAD: The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Thursday booked a top official of the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) and his wife in connection with a case of criminal misconduct and corruption.
The Telangana's Warangal Project Implement Unit deputy general manager and project director and his wife were booked after the Government Railway Police (GRP) seized cash from them and the income tax department investigation wing probed the same matter.
The accused — Kishore Raghunath Fule (46) and his wife Nisha — were in possession of Rs 74 lakh without proper accounting during a train journey from Kazipet (in Hanumakonda district of Telangana) to Nagpur (in Maharashtra) on the Bengaluru-Rajdhani Express on June 7.
Fule and Nisha could not provide a satisfactory explanation for possessing the money.
The Kazipet GRP sub-inspector seized the cash and handed over the same to the income tax authorities.
At the office of the director general (investigations), Income Tax, Hyderabad, the accused were unable to explain the source of the money satisfactorily.
The CBI claimed that prime facie it is revealed that "Fule, while working as a public servant, was found in possession of Rs 74 lakh, which cannot be satisfactorily accounted for".
The agency said the NHAI official committed the offence of "criminal misconduct under various sections of the Prevention of Corruption Act", adding, his wife Nisha Kishore Fule "aided and abetted the offence" for which the CBI registered the case against the duo.
The agency has decided to dig into his assets to find out whether there were any disproportionate sources of income.
The CBI officials have decided to issue summons to the NHAI official and grill him regarding the projects he handled and how he was in possession of the money and regarding any links with the contractors of the NH projects in Warangal and elsewhere where he worked since he joined the service.
