New Delhi,September 16 :RAILWAY personnel went into a tizzy as an attendant stumbled upon a bag containing ` 10 lakh in a first class AC coupe of the Shaan- e- Bhopal Superfast Express at the Habibganj station yard on Thursday.
When further inquiries revealed that Sandeep Dikshit — Congress MP and son of Delhi chief minister Sheila Dikshit — had travelled in the same coupe, the confusion was only compounded.
The GRP seized the bag in which the hard cash was neatly packed in bundles of ` 1,000 notes. Initially, it was believed that the bag belonged to Dikshit who had travelled in the Delhi- to- Bhopal train with his wife Mona.
But Dikshit claimed he had nothing to do with the money and it belonged to his friend Jayesh Mathur.
According to Dikshit, Mathur was travelling in another coach of the same train and had kept the bag with him for safety reasons. “ My friend was in coach A1. He asked me to keep the bag because it had valuables. While disembarking, we were in a hurry and so we forgot to take the bag,” Dikshit told the media, adding that a needless controversy had been created because of the incident.
He said Mathur was carrying the cash to purchase property in Bhopal.
Mathur accepted that the money belonged to him and said he had to make a payment for an investment in the state capital.
Dikshit runs Bhopalbased NGO Sanket and travels to the state capital frequently. According to sources, Dikshit, Mona and Mathur got down at the Habibganj railway station, accidentally leaving behind the bag. Later, attendant Bhagwan Das Ahirwar found it under a berth and immediately informed senior officers.
“ The money was received by the RPF ( Railway Protection Force) and brought to the railway police station. We have registered a case and have sent it to court,” SP ( railways) I. P. Arjariya said.
West Central Railways GM G. N. Asthana later announced a cash reward of ` 2000 for Ahirwar — a resident of Lalitpur district in UP — for showing honesty and sincerity in work.
While the Congress refused to comment on the matter, the BJP’s Delhi unit demanded a high- level inquiry. Delhi BJP president Vijender Gupta said the explanation given by Dikshit was not convincing, adding that adding that prima facie it appeared to be a case of corruption. “ In a recent speech in Parliament, he talked about the need to root out graft. Clearly, his words and deeds do not match,” Gupta said.