Patna: The CBI has arrested Arun Kumar Mandal, assistant personnel officer (APO) of Samastipur Railway Division, for allegedly taking a bribe of Rs 50,000. The CBI team took him to Patna late Thursday night after questioning him for nearly 10 hours.A six-member CBI team raided Mandal’s office on Thursday and took him into custody while he was allegedly accepting Rs.50,000 in bribe, following an FIR registered at the CBI police station. During the raid, the team also seized several files linked to the engineering department, sources said.Railway sources said Mandal handled files of engineering department staff and issued transfer-posting letters. It is alleged he demanded money for transfers sought through private applications, purportedly through a senior clerk, Amrit Raj.According to the complaint, Amrit Raj approached the CBI around 45 days ago over an alleged demand for money.After the office raid, the CBI team searched Mandal’s government bungalow and recovered a country-made pistol, two magazines and nine live cartridges from a bedroom cupboard. The Town police station team was called and the weapons were handed over.CBI inspector Sunil Kumar Singh Kushwaha, in a written application to police, said the arms were found during the search of Mandal’s government residence in connection with the corruption case. Town police registered an FIR under Section 25B of the Arms Act.SHO-cum-inspector Ajit Kumar said a separate case has been registered for the arms recovery and Mandal will be taken on remand in that case as well.Mandal, who is due to retire in December this year, told reporters while being taken to Patna that he had been framed, but was not allowed to speak for long. The CBI said further investigation was underway and documents seized from the office were being examined.
