Railway staff pilfer parcel worth lakhs, 5 suspended

Sources told DT Next that a consignment comprising 30 cartons of garments was booked to be sent to Howrah, Kolkata, on November 8. While an invoice was made for 30 cartons, only 19 were sent to Howrah, where it was promptly delivered to the consignee. The fraud came to light only when the supervisor of the parcel section noticed 11 cartons lying on the platform and impounded them for scrutiny.

However, much to the shock of the supervisor, deputy CTI D Yuvaraj and chief commercial clerks A Karuppaswamy, S Anthony D Cruz, C Thiyagarajan and H Khadar Basha, along with a few outsiders, took away the 11 cartons early on Tuesday evening. The supervisor immediately reported it to the senior divisional officials.

“Preliminary inquiry revealed that a few staff were involved. We have placed the five officials under suspension to prevent tampering of evidence. A charge sheet will be issued in a week and detailed inquiry ordered,” a senior official said. However, the suspension order issued by the station manager of Chennai Central (available with this paper), does not cite the reason for the action taken against the staff.

Sources alleged that some railway officials were taking efforts to revoke the suspension and save the staff.

Beyond the pilferage, SR officials are concerned over the ease with which the staff managed to send less than originally booked volume of goods and also over booking clerks at Howrah not finding fault with discrepancy at the time of delivery.

“That the staff at Howrah and the consignee have not reported the loss makes us suspect that it could be a larger network. The haste with which a couple of officials interfered to revoke the suspension strengthens our doubts,” said another zonal level officer. Though the consigner has not claimed the parcel so far, railway officials estimated that the value of the pilfered consignment could be over Rs 7.5 lakhs. Curiously, SR has not preferred a police complaint in connection with the theft of goods.