Four Railway staff suspended for parcel theft

The suspended employees include two parcel supervisors Chitra Prabhu, David and clerks Lokesh and Pavitra. The suspension was ordered following an inquiry conducted by the commercial department which had pulled them up for collecting Rs 1.26 lakh fine from the consignee.

The division has initiated disciplinary action for slapping fine for a parcel which was recorded as missing a week ago. A memo was generated after the vigilance sleuths found the impounded parcel missing from the inward parcel office on June 6. The suspension, sources revealed, was ordered at the behest of Divisional Railway Manager who had responded to DT Next story on Twitter saying, “Matter notified to official concerned” on June 10.

Railway officials confirmed the suspension and said, “The two supervisors were on duty when the consignment was impounded, smuggled and released. The woman supervisor was the one who collected the memo from the vigilance inspection on June 6. Though the clerks did not have a role in parcel theft, they were on duty when the parcel was smuggled out and penalty slapped. The delivery and unloading clerks were intimidated by the supervisors to release the parcel. They failed in their duty and hence the action.”

The nexus between the consignee, an influential trade union member and the suspended supervisors was exposed by the claim that the consignment was in the custody and collecting a fine of Rs 1.26 lakh, apparently, to wrap up the mysterious disappearance as a simple case of overweight, unaware that the division was closely monitoring them.