KOCHI: The CBI on Sunday carried out simultaneous raids at the office and residence of the chief engineer of Military Engineering service (MES) at the Naval Base here as part of a probe into the alleged corruption and irregularities in the tendering of construction work by MES at the base.
Sources said the raids were carried out at the residence and office of R K Garg, the chief engineer of MES, a civilian organisation supporting military units in construction and maintenance activities at Katari Bagh in Willingdon Island. Residences and offices of four contractors linked with the corruption allegations were also raided. In the raids, gold ornaments and `5 crore in cash were seized.
Sources said the officers allegedly accepted bribes from contractors for favouring them in the tendering procedure for some construction work at the Naval Base. “During Sunday’s raids, `5 crore in cash and gold ornaments were seized from the residences of some contractors. Some of the contractors were summoned to the CBI office in the evening and are being interrogated. The CBI is likely to record the arrests on Monday,” said the sources.
The raids were carried out after CBI officers in New Delhi nabbed an MES officer and two contractors in connection with the allegations. “As per the information collected by CBI’s New Delhi wing, raids were held across Kerala and other states,” said sources. Garg, who comes under the Indian Defence Service of Engineers (IDSE) cadre and is serving at the Naval Base for the past one year, doesn’t have any direct links with the Navy. He has had corruption allegations levelled against him in the past, too.
No info of graft: Navy
Sources at the Navy confirmed raids were carried out at Garg’s residence and office. “However, we have no information about the incident which led to the raid,” they said. “The officer (Garg) is associated with MES, a civilian organisation which looks after the infrastructural constructions and maintenance for all three wings of India’s Armed forces,” said a source.