Southern Railway vigilance staff raid parcel office where scam broke

CHENNAI: Ten days after a scam was reported in the parcel office of Chennai Central, the vigilance wing of Southern Railway conducted raids pertaining to various irregularities in the office.

Sources in the parcel office said the raids began around lunch time on Friday and lasted at least 10 hours. A big team of around 25 officials was present at the parcel office and inspected documents pertaining to how parcels are booked, the condition of scanners, presence of outsiders in the parcel office and other nitty-gritties, the sources said.

The raids were confirmed by sources in the vigilance department as well, stating that they were observing the developments for a few days. However, no information was forthcoming on the outcome of the raids.

Incidentally, Southern Railway does not have a chief vigilance officer(CVO) as the incumbent was transferred to Western Railway a few days back. Vigilance is in-charge of checking if procedures are violated. If they find evidence of corruption, they can recommend the CBI to file a case.

The scam pertains to 11 cartons of vests which were supposed to be parcelled to Howrah from Chennai via Coromandel Express around two weeks ago. The consignee had allegedly booked 30 parcels and a receipt of a similar number of parcels was received from the Howrah station. However, the parcel supervisors at Chennai Central secured 11 of the parcels. Each carton was worth Rs 1 lakh. The consignment had been sent from Tirupur.

A group of five railway employees led by D Yuvaraj, branch secretary of Southern Railway Mazdoor Union (SRMU), the sole recognised employees union, allegedly accosted the parcel supervisors and forcefully took away the cartons. The five were immediately suspended by the senior divisional commercial manager of Chennai division of Southern Railway and later a charge memo was issued. They were transferred out of Chennai Central to nearby stations and a proposal to transfer them to other divisions of zonal railway is also pending with the Southern Railway headquarters.

SRMU general secretary N Kanniah earlier told TOI that there was no scam and defended Yuvaraj. The 11 parcels are still missing. Availability of CCTV footage of the incident is also a mystery currently, officials said. A probe has been ordered by the Chennai Divisional Railway Manager Naveen Gulati. The chief security commissioner (CSC) who heads the railway protection force (RPF) has also asked for a report on the issue.