'Silver' Medals Gifted To Retired Railway Staff. They Were Made Of Copper

A disturbing fraud has surfaced inside the Indian Railways' system after gold-plated "silver" coins given to retiring employees as a mark of honour were found to be fake. Laboratory tests have revealed that the medals, officially described as gold-plated silver, were in fact made largely of copper, with only a trace amount of silver, raising serious questions about procurement, quality control and the emotional betrayal of thousands of retired railway employees.

TK Gautam proudly displayed the gold-plated silver coin he received on retirement from the West Central Railway. As a former Chief Loco Inspector, he considered it not just a memento but a symbol of a lifetime of service. "These coins were earlier minted by the government mint. They stood for something," he said. "Now every retired employee is anxious, wondering if even their honour was fake."

That anxiety turned into shock when tests revealed that the coins were not silver at all.

Hasrat Jahan, who retired from the Bhopal Coach Factory in January 2025 after 36 years of service, says she kept her coin carefully in her drawing room. "We were told it was 99 per cent silver," she says. "Now the Railways themselves have filed an FIR saying it is copper. I feel betrayed. This was meant to be a mark of respect for our service."

Laboratory tests have now confirmed that the so-called gold-plated silver coins given to retiring railway employees were, in fact, almost entirely made of copper, with only 0.23 per cent silver content.

The medals were procured by the West Central Railway's General Stores Depot in Bhopal following a purchase order issued on January 23, 2023, to an Indore-based firm, M/s Viable Diamonds, for the supply of 3,640 coins. A total of 3,631 were delivered with an inspection certificate from RITES. Each 20-gram coin was supposed to be made of silver and plated with gold, costing between Rs 2,000 and Rs 2,200.

This means the railways may have been defrauded of approximately Rs 2,200 per coin, potentially amounting to a multi-crore scam.

When doubts were raised about their quality, the Railway Vigilance Department ordered tests at an NABL-accredited lab and a government laboratory. The reports showed that the coins were made almost entirely of copper.

Confirming the developments, West Central Railway's Chief Public Relations Officer Harshit Srivastava said that irregularities were found during testing, the remaining coins are being seized, the supplier has been blacklisted, and an FIR has been registered in Bhopal. "A joint investigation is underway, and action will be taken after it is complete," he said.

The case is no longer just about financial loss. It has become a question of trust, dignity and institutional accountability. What was meant to be a token of respect for decades of public service has turned into a reminder of how even honour can be hollowed out by corruption.