New Delhi, Feb 15 (IANS): The CBI on Monday said that it has filed an FIR against eight former Central Railway officials and others for allegedly causing the Railways a loss of over Rs 22 crore by allotting tenders to selective suppliers and buying items on exorbitant prices.

A Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) official said that they conducted searches at 12 locations belonging to the accused, and recovered some incriminating documents.

The official said that the case was registered against Ved Prakash, then Senior Divisional Electrical Engineer, Kurla, Vijay Kumar, then Assistant Divisional Electrical Engineer, Suresh Vithal Kapare, then Senior Material Manager, Sureshchandra G. Baria and D.D. Sorte, both then Senior Section Engineers, Kurla, H.S. Gomes and Anjali Gupta, both then Chief Office Superintendents, Arun Pratap Shriram, then Divisional Electrical Engineer, Kurla, Central Railway and unknown others.

The CBI said that the accused had entered into conspiracy with private suppliers for purchasing of non-store items at higher costs, in exchange for illegal monetary benefits from them.

"Ambiguous description of items were mentioned in such a manner that it could not be procured from GeM Portal and not be understood by other suppliers, except some set of suppliers who were involved in the conspiracy," said the CBI official.

The official said this resulted in limited tendering and as such, the tenders were allotted to the selective suppliers and goods, to the tune of Rs 22.60 crore, allegedly procured on exorbitant rates.