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July 22, 2023 07:29 am | Updated 07:29 am IST – NEW DELHI
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The CBI has alleged that the government officers had illegally given contracts to private entities, causing Rs. 16 crore loss to the exchequer | Photo Credit: Ravi Choudhary
The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has registered five cases against several officers of the Military Engineering Services (MES), posted in Madhya Pradesh’s Jabalpur, for allegedly “extending favours to some companies” in the grant of work contracts that were never executed, but over ₹16 crore was paid to them.
The agency has alleged that the former Garrison Engineer (GE) awarded 59 contracts to private firms from financial year 2020-21 to 2022-23 for various civil, electrical, mechanical and associated works in the defence offices, residential complexes, etc. The accused officer accepted abnormally low rates quoted by the contractors which were not feasible. Those works were not executed.
The accused officers made false entries in the measurement books and supervisory officers passed the bills of the contractors without any verification. “Searches were conducted at 12 places in Jabalpur, Jodhpur, Prayagraj and Shillong, including the premises of accused persons and companies,” said a CBI official.
Among the 17 accused named in the first case are former Garrison Engineer (GE), B.M. Verma, GE Dheeraj Kumar, former Assistant GE (AGE) Rajeev Bhart, AGE K.N. Vishwakarma, Junior Engineers Ratnesh Kumar Tripathi, Mukesh Tiwari and Manoj Kumar; and Assistant Engineer Mintu Raj.
According to the First Information Report (FIR), the beneficiary companies are Shivalik Engineering Works, Skyline Encon, Rastogi Builders, R.K. Transformers, Diamond Electrical, A.K. Builders, Mangalam Traders, Gautam Electric Works and M/s Jitendra Singh. “They allegedly received ₹3.93 crore in collusion with the public servants,” read the FIR.
It is alleged that Mr. Verma and Mr. Kumar, in conspiracy with others, had deliberately brought down the contracts’ technical sanction amount within their financial power (below ₹50 lakh) through wrong application of market rate, instead of calculating the same based on standard scheduled rate. The money paid for the non-executed work was 10% more than the contract amount.
In the second case, six of the accused officers have been named for allegedly “extending favour” to Goodluck Enterprises by following the same modus operandi. The company was allegedly paid ₹3.52 crore. The third case pertains to Shri Krishna Traders, which was paid ₹4.57 crore, while the fourth is related to S.K. Traders for “illegal” payment of ₹2.03 crore. The fifth FIR is against Sonal Constructions and others and it involves an alleged loss of ₹2.17 crore to the exchequer.
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