Mridha off the hook in 2 more ACC cases

The ACC has submitted charges for 2 corruption cases excluding Yusuf Ali Mridha, former general manager of Bangladesh Railway (East Zone). The cases were filed last year over alleged irregularities in appointing assistant locomotive master and inspector (grade-1), said ACC lawyer Mahmudul Haque. He said Mridha was left out while Additional Chief Mechanical Engineer Hafizur Rahman, Senior Welfare Officer Golam Kibria and 30 others have been accused in the case over appointing the assistant loco master. In the other case, only Golam Kibria was accused. Widespread corruption in railway recruitment came to focus when Omar Faruq Talukder, assistant personal secretary to former railway minister Suranjit Sengupta, was carrying Tk 7 million in his car. Mridha was also in the car when it was checked by BGB as the driver suddenly drove it into their headquarters at Peelkhana. The huge money, it was alleged, was collected from job seekers. The national anti-graft agency filed as many as 14 cases in Chittagong between 2010 and 2012 for irregularities in hiring employees for the railway. A separate case was slapped on Mridha for amassing wealth illegally. He stands accused of irregularities in four cases over hiring ticket issuer, tool keeper, and assistant fuel checker but has been excluded from the 2 cases over appointing goods assistant and record keeper, according to a news agency.