Parcel scam: Tainted Railway staffers now held with excess cash

Chief commercial clerks, Karuppasamy and Thiyagarajan, who were ‘reinstated’ last week without even appearing for departmental inquiry in the parcel scam, were caught with cash in excess of the sum declared at the booking office.

“They had around Rs 1,000 in excess of the cash declared. Vigilance officials have seized the cash and booked them,” a senior railway official said. However, the details were yet to be intimated to the division.

“We were informally told that they were caught carrying excess cash on duty at the booking office. Vigilance wing is an independent entity. They will book the charges and recommend action against them based on the gravity of the offence,” the official said.

Vigilance is only a recommending agency and the action would be initiated by the division based on the recommendation, the official added. The two clerks were posted at the booking office at Chennai Central on January 4 despite them failing to turn up for the departmental inquiry, for which they availed sick leave.

Ironically, it was the same Southern Railway vigilance wing, which had raided the parcel office on Wall Tax Road for over two days and confirmed that parcel overloading continued despite the unearthing of the parcel scam in the second week of November.

Railway vigilance had slapped a fine of around Rs 30,000 after scrutinizing records which revealed that ‘overloading’ of parcels and manipulation of records were continuing unabated even after the parcel scam. 

Meanwhile, officials raised apprehension over the raid and said that if the parcel scam could be put to cold storage, it would not be difficult to sweep the raid under the carpet easily.