New Delhi:

Armed with documents pointing to large-scale irregularities, the CBI on Thursday began its probe into the alleged involvement of nine Rajya Sabha MPs and Central government employees in the inflated travel bills scam.

Two days after CNN-IBN revealed the details of the scam, the CBI is examining the documents received from the Central Vigilance Commission (CVC). Sources indicates that preliminary inquiry has found that the serial numbers on the boarding passes of some Air India tickets did not match the Air India inventory.

The probe by the CVC had revealed how the MPs claimed flying business class in all-economy flights and also submitted business class boarding passes for flights that were never taken.

Sources had said that JD(U) leader Anil Sahni was allegedly the biggest offender in the scam. However, denying any involvement in the scam, Sahni had said, "I don't know anything about it. I went for a tour to Koltaka. I got my ticket done through an agent. I will look into it and let you know."

Rajya Sabha had sent letters to Air India and Jet Airways seeking information about inflated bills.

During the investigation several fictitious ticket numbers not matching serial numbers used in Air India were found. Sources said Sahni reportedly generated 8 tickets worth Rs 1,50,000 each. It also came to light that Sahni used the boarding card which was used by two other passengers. The seat allotted to him was 15C - an economy class ticket - but on paper it showed up as a business class ticket - thereby hiking the fares.

It all began when the police arrested a person in possession of over 600 blank boarding cards at the Kolkata airport. This was attributed to the CVC finding that Rajya Sabha Secretariat employees in connivance with travel agents were misusing LTC privileges.

source:ibnlive.com