Missing Rs 5-cr train engine returns intact

The railway engine, which was recovered by the Wadala TT cops on Monday. Pic/Ashish Raje

The railway engine worth Rs 5 crore that went missing for more than three months has finally been brought to the city. After a case was registered at the Wadala TT police station by a contractor against a sub-contractor, Pawan Sharma, for not delivering the ZDM 3 engine, the cops summoned the former and learnt about the whereabouts of the engine. Fearing arrest, the sub-contractor saw to it that the engine was brought to Mumbai.

"After the accused was summoned and a police team was deputed to bring the engine to the city, the accused ensured that it was handed over to us. He has been called in for questioning but claims he didn't cheat the contractor as he had lost money due to diesel expenses while transporting the engine," said Dnyaneshwar Aargade, Senior Inspector of Wadala TT police station. "Railway officials were informed after which they came and inspected the engine" he added.

Shree JB Grain Dealers Association had been awarded the contract by Indian Railways to transport engines from Mumbai to Kalka, Haryana and back. On April 27, it was tasked with transporting an engine. The company reached out to Radha Roadways to do the job and the latter took hold of the engine from Mumbai and transported it to Kalka on April 27, while the ZDM 3 engine was about to be transported from Kalka to Mumbai. The cost for transportation was fixed at Rs 4.25 lakh.

As per the agreement, R2 lakh was paid to Radha Roadways on April 29 while Rs 1 lakh was paid on May 6 and another payment of R1 lakh was made on May 19. But the contractor was shocked as the ZDM 3 engine was not brought to the city from Kalka. When he checked with officials, he learnt that the engine had been loaded in a trailer at Haryana but hadn't reached Mumbai.

When Anilkumar Gupta, the owner of Shree JB Grain Dealers Association, contacted Sharma, the owner of Radha Roadways, the latter allegedly responded that the payment of Rs 1 lakh was delayed and that of Rs 25,000 was not made yet. Gupta told Sharma that he would pay the pending Rs 25,000 once the engine was delivered, but the latter allegedly asked for Rs 60,000 more, demanding that the extra dues be cleared first.

The dispute between the two resulted in Sharma not delivering the railway engine. Finding it difficult to end the deadlock, Gupta visited the police station on July 2 and registered an FIR against Sharma under Sections 406 (criminal breach of trust) and 420 (cheating) of the Indian Penal Code. API Alpesh Lawand was assigned the case.

The cops immediately summoned Sharma and found out where the engine had been kept at a petrol pump in Rajasthan. "The root cause of the dispute was the damage that occurred to the engine that was transported to Kalka. In April 2023, when the engine was transported from Parel Workshop to Kalka, it got damaged, Shree JB Grain Dealers Association and Radha Roadways were having a dispute over the fine which was imposed by Railways because of the damage," said an official.

July 2
Day contractor approached cops