India’s Central Bureau of Investigation has arrested five people—including Deputy Chief Engineer Vivek Kushwaha of Northern Railway’s Gati Shakti unit in Lucknow—on allegations of accepting a Rs2.5 lakh bribe to clear irregular bills for a rail infrastructure contract. The agency says Kushwaha, a senior section engineer (drawings), an office superintendent and two employees of Delhi-based contractor Tangent Infratech Pvt. Ltd. were caught while facilitating inflated payments tied to a Bhadohi-based project under the government’s flagship Gati Shakti programme. An FIR filed on 15 July also names additional officials of Northern and North Eastern Railway in Lucknow and Varanasi for routinely approving suspect invoices. Investigators conducted searches at multiple railway offices as they widen the probe into suspected systemic corruption in the two zones.