In a swift anti-corruption strike, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Sunday arrested a Senior Section Engineer from the South Central Railway’s Chief Signal & Telecommunications Engineer (CSTE) Projects office in Vijayawada, along with a private individual, while the official was allegedly accepting a ₹15 lakh bribe.
The agency registered the case on 16 August 2026 against the Senior Section Engineer, four representatives of private companies, and unknown public servants and private persons. The case stems from an Automatic Block Signalling project worth ₹179.50 crore awarded by South Central Railway to a joint venture of two private firms. The joint venture had claimed a bonus of approximately ₹7 crore for completing the work ahead of schedule.
According to the CBI, officials in the CSTE Projects office in Vijayawada allegedly manipulated or altered dates in the bonus-related file to extend undue favour to the joint venture and facilitate approval of the claim. The Managing Director of one of the private companies informed the accused engineer that his son would deliver the bribe amount while travelling from Visakhapatnam to Vijayawada on 16 August 2026.
Acting on specific information, CBI teams laid a trap the same day and caught the Senior Section Engineer red-handed while accepting ₹15 lakh from the private person. The cash was recovered during the operation. The money was allegedly paid as a reward for the sanction and release of the bonus amount to the company belonging to the private person’s father.
Searches are currently underway at the premises of the accused persons in Visakhapatnam, Vijayawada, Pithapuram, and Hyderabad. The two arrested individuals will be produced before the competent court in Vijayawada on 17 August 2026. The investigation in the case is continuing.