The CBI has arrested three Indian Railway Traffic Service (IRTS) officers and two others after busting a bribery racket allegedly involved in securing preferential allotment of freight rakes in the Hajipur-headquartered East Central Railway (ECR), officials said Monday.

The arrested IRTS officers were Sanjay Kumar (1996 batch), posted as Chief Freight Transportation Manager in ECR, Rupesh Kumar (2011 batch), posted in Samastipur, and Sachin Mishra (2011 batch), posted in Sonpur.

The officers were accused of collecting regular bribes from ECR vendors for preferential allotment of railway racks for loading goods, they said.

The CBI has also arrested Nawal Ladha of the Calcutta -based Abha Agro Industries Pvt. Ltd. and a private person named Manoj Kumar Saha in connection with the case, they said.

During searches, Rs 46.50 lakh in cash was recovered, they said.