CBI Registers Cases Against Retired Railway Engineers, Others Over ₹4-Crore Loss in Tamil Nadu

NEW DELHI, Nov 14: The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has registered two cases against a retired Southern Railway engineer and other individuals for alleged irregularities in construction work that reportedly caused losses of approximately ₹4 crore to the Railways in Tamil Nadu, officials said on Saturday.

The cases relate to the construction of a new broad gauge railway line along the 17.75-kilometre Milavittan-Melamarudur section in Tuticorin district, which forms part of the proposed Madurai-Tuticorin route.

The agency has named Muhammed Salaiya, who served as Deputy Chief Engineer in the Madurai construction division, in both FIRs. William Jai, a former Executive Engineer in the same division, and other individuals have also been named in one of the cases.

According to the FIRs, the Railway Board approved the project in March 2014 with an estimated expenditure of ₹120.70 crore.

Alleged irregularities in bridge construction

In the first case, the CBI has alleged that two minor bridges were constructed without obtaining the necessary approval, despite the Railways having sanctioned only one structure for the location.

The contract for constructing the two bridges was awarded to a firm owned by Y Chinna Reddy on October 3, 2016. The agency alleged that the work was assigned without securing prior clearance from the competent authority.

The structures were completed on July 10, 2017, at a reported cost of ₹3.59 crore. The investigation found that the bridges were situated within 30 metres of each other along the same waterway and could potentially have been constructed as a single structure, the FIR stated.

The agency further alleged that both bridges were built approximately four metres above the approved level, although there was no technical requirement for such a modification.

This allegedly increased the volume of earthwork and the expenditure on land acquisition, resulting in a financial loss of around ₹2.57 crore to the Railways.

The FIR also pointed out that a formal proposal seeking approval for the bridges was initiated only on May 24, 2019, nearly two years after their construction had been completed.

The CBI has alleged that the delayed submission was an attempt to provide retrospective justification for the construction work carried out without the required authorisation.

Apart from Salaiya, the agency has named the contractor firm and its managing director, Reddy, as accused in the first case.

Second case concerns retaining-wall construction

The second FIR alleges that Salaiya and Jai conspired with a Madurai-based resident during 2016-17 to construct a concrete retaining wall in violation of established railway procedures.

According to the agency, the retaining wall should have been taken up after the construction of the bridges. However, it was allegedly built beforehand, leaving inadequate space for the required earthwork around the bridge approaches.

As a result, the retaining wall was reportedly buried during subsequent construction activities, making the expenditure on the structure ineffective.

The CBI has estimated the resulting loss to the Railways at approximately ₹1.44 crore. The agency described the proposal for the wall as flawed and unjustified in its FIR.

Together, the two cases involve alleged losses of nearly ₹4.01 crore arising from construction decisions and procedural violations in the railway project.

The CBI is investigating the alleged role of the officials, contractors and other individuals named in the cases, along with the circumstances in which the construction proposals were approved and executed.