By IANS,
Lucknow : He’s a railway ticket examiner but has four houses in this Uttar Pradesh capital. He was arrested in December as the alleged mastermind behind leaking exam papers of the Railway Recruitment Board (RRB) but was released on bail. And now never say die Bedi Ram is on the run after police busted a paper leak scam in Ajmer.
Investigations by the Uttar Pradesh Police’s Special Task Force (STF) have revealed that Bedi Ram had been in the business for years and had constructed four houses in the city’s upscale Gomati Nagar worth millions of rupees since joining the railways over a decade ago.
The revelations come following the arrest of 110 people from Jaipur and Bhopal Sunday for their involvement in leaking the Ajmer RRB paper scheduled for the same day. The arrested included 16 organisers and 94 candidates.
Railway sources said Bedi charged anything from Rs.400,000 to Rs.600,000 per candidate for “assured” selection in the railways.
In December last year, the STF had busted a similar racket and arrested 286 people from Allahabad. Travel Ticket Examiner (TTE) Bedi Ram was also arrested from Lucknow as the alleged mastermind.
“However, he was soon out on bail and again involved in similar activities. Our investigations show he was also involved in Sunday’s incident and is absconding,” said Additional Director General of Police Brijlal.
Besides the properties he has acquired, the STF suspects he must have accumulated a lot of money in his bank accounts.
This is not the first time Bedi Ram finds himself in the crosshairs of the law enforcers.
“According to our information, Bedi Ram was also involved in a similar case in 2006 and was suspended. However, he was soon reinstated and his colleagues have informed us that he led a luxurious lifestyle and also has high contacts,” Deputy Superintendent of Police S. Anand told IANS.
Bedi Ram had joined the railways in Gonda district and got himself tranfered to Lucknow over a decade ago and has been here since, said STF sources.
Police also claim to have concrete evidence of Bedi’s involvement in other similar crimes.
“Investigations have now revealed that besides other cases, he was also involved in leaking the paper of the Bhopal RRB this month,” Anand said.
Police are collecting more evidence of his assets disproportionate to his known sources of income and are planning to start legal action soon.