CBI files cases against retired railway engineer, others over project irregularities

CBI has filed two cases over allegedly unauthorised railway construction in Tamil Nadu. The disputed bridges and retaining wall allegedly caused losses of about Rs 4 crore.The alleged irregularities in the 17.75-km Milavittan-Melamarudur section caused losses of around Rs 4 crore, according to the CBI. (Representative image)New Delhi,Nov 14, 2026 12:57 ISTThe Central Bureau of Investigation has registered two cases against a retired Southern Railway engineer and several others over alleged irregularities in construction work on a new broad-gauge railway line in Tamil Nadu, news agency Press Trust of India reported, citing officials.The alleged irregularities in the 17.75-km Milavittan-Melamarudur section caused losses of around Rs 4 crore, according to the CBI.The agency named Muhammed Salaiya, then deputy chief engineer in Southern Railway's Madurai construction division, in both FIRs.William Jai, then an executive engineer in the division, and others were also named in one of the cases, officials told PTI. The section in Tuticorin district is part of the proposed Madurai-Tuticorin route.The Railway Board sanctioned the project in March 2014 at an estimated cost of Rs 120.70 crore, according to the FIRs. In the first case, the CBI alleged that two minor bridges were built without approval even though the Railways had approved only one.A contract for the two structures was awarded to a firm owned by Y Chinna Reddy on October 3, 2016, "without obtaining prior approval from the competent authority", the agency alleged.The bridges were completed on July 10, 2017, at a cost of Rs 3.59 crore.The agency alleged that the two structures, located within 30 metres of each other on the same waterway, could have been combined.The CBI further alleged that the bridges were built about four metres above the approved level without any technical requirement.This increased earthwork and land acquisition costs and resulted in a loss of Rs 2.57 crore.A proposal seeking approval for the bridges was initiated only on May 24, 2019, nearly two years after they were completed, in an alleged attempt to justify the "illegal construction", the FIR said.Besides Salaiya, the CBI named the firm, represented by its managing director Reddy, as an accused in the case.The second FIR, which also named Jai, alleged that the two engineers conspired with a Madurai resident in 2016-17 to construct a concrete retaining wall "without following norms and procedures of Railways".The CBI alleged that the wall should have been built after the bridges.Building it first left insufficient space for earthwork along the approaches to the bridges, resulting in the wall being buried.The agency described the proposal as "flawed and unjustified" and alleged that it caused a loss of Rs 1.44 crore, PTI reported.The two cases relate to alleged unauthorised construction of bridges and a retaining wall on the Milavittan-Melamarudur railway section, which the CBI said caused combined losses of about Rs 4 crore.- Ends