Mridha, 2 other officials indicted

A Chittagong court yesterday framed charges against three officials of Bangladesh Railway, including its east zone's suspended general manager Yusuf Ali Mridha, in a case linked with irregularities in recruitment.
Mridha and the two others -- east zone's suspended senior welfare officer Golam Kibria and suspended additional chief mechanical engineer Hafizur Rahman -- had allegedly recruited ineligible candidates to assistant chemist posts for money. The Anti-Corruption Commission filed the corruption case with Kotwali Police Station in September 2012.
Chittagong Metropolitan Sessions Judge SM Mojibur Rahman fixed March 3 for the trial to begin.
The court also issued arrest warrants for the accused as they were not present during the hearing on charge framing, public prosecutor Mahmudul Huq Mahmud said.

ACC Assistant Director Rashedur Reza, the investigation officer of the case, submitted the charge sheet in August 2013.
The three accused have been on the run since the filing of cases against them over corruption. The court issued arrest warrants on different occasions but police failed to get hold of them.
Railway authorities in October 2010 published an advertisement in a national daily, seeking applications for the posts.  As many as 68 of 177 applicants were asked to take the recruitment tests. Some 39 candidates sat the exams held at two centres in Chittagong and Rajshahi.
The graft watchdog during an investigation found that results of the examinees were altered in answer and tabulation sheets. Candidates, who failed the test, were selected for the job in return for bribes, according to the charge sheet.
The commission filed another five cases with the police station, accusing the three of   corruption in recruitment to other posts.  
Mridha was suspended on April 15, 2012, a week after he was caught with Tk 70 lakh inside the Pilkhana Headquarters of Border Guard Bangladesh. The money had allegedly been collected from railway job seekers.
The then railway minister Suranjit Sengupta had to resign following allegations that the money was being taken to his Jigatola residence. Suranjit has all along refuted the claim.   
The cash haul led to exposure of widespread irregularities in recruitments to different tiers of the railway.