CBI Books Former Railway DyCE/C in ₹2.66-Crore Disproportionate Assets Case

BHOPAL: The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has registered a corruption case against Narayan Singh Bundela, the former Deputy Chief Engineer (Construction-II) of West Central Railway (WCR), Bhopal, for allegedly amassing illicit assets worth over ₹2.66 crore. The assets held by the railway official and his family members were found to be 64.56 percent disproportionate to their known and lawful sources of income during a check period spanning more than twelve years.

According to the First Information Report registered on September 9, 2026, by the Anti-Corruption Branch (ACB) of CBI Bhopal under Section 173 of the Bhartiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS), 2023, Bundela has been booked under Section 13(2) read with Section 13(1)(b) of the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988 (as amended in 2018) for criminal misconduct by intentionally enriching himself illicitly while holding public office.

The case originated from an inquiry and written complaint submitted on September 1, 2026, by Inspector Udaybhan Mishra of the CBI ACB Jabalpur, which was transferred to the Bhopal unit on territorial jurisdiction grounds. A scrutiny of financial records from January 1, 2014, to June 5, 2026, revealed that Bundela accumulated massive wealth in his own name and in the names of his family members.

The financial breakdown in the FIR shows that at the start of the check period on January 1, 2014, Bundela’s total assets stood at ₹56,12,309. By June 5, 2026, his assets surged to ₹5,63,92,493, marking an acquisition of ₹5,07,80,184. Over this same period, the combined lawful income of Bundela and his wife, Ritu Narayan Singh, was ₹4,12,35,193, against total expenditures of ₹1,70,75,143, leaving legitimate savings of ₹2,41,60,050. When offset against the assets acquired, the probe revealed an unexplained surplus of ₹2,66,20,134 that the officer could not satisfactorily account for.

This is a non-rotation effect because the accused officer was posted 12 years continuously in one place. Administrative inertia and the failure to enforce periodic rotational transfers remain a primary root cause of corruption in Indian Railways. When officers occupy high-value execution and procurement posts in the same station over prolonged tenures, the institutional checks and balances collapse. The absence of regular reshuffles fosters deep-seated patron-contractor nexuses, compromises technical supervision, and shields opaque financial dealings from routine internal vigilance, effectively providing fertile ground for systematic, long-term illicit enrichment.

Concurring that the allegations prima facie establish a cognizable offense, Superintendent of Police Ganga Ram Punia registered Regular Case RC0082026A0016 at the CBI ACB Police Station in Bhopal. The investigation has been formally entrusted to Deputy Superintendent of Police Ashish Sharma under Section 17 of the Prevention of Corruption Act.