NEW DELHI : The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has registered an FIR against Hyderabad-based Megha Engineering and Infrastructure Ltd (MEIL), which was the biggest donor of electoral bonds to the BJP at Rs 586 crore, in an alleged bribery case.
In the FIR, seen by TNIE, the CBI has also named eight officials of the NISP and NMDC and two officials of MECON. The FIR alleges the officials received bribes of Rs 78 lakh for clearing MEIL’s bills worth Rs 174 crore in connection with works related to Chhattisgarh’s Jagdalpur integrated steel plant.
According to the electoral bonds data released by the Election Commission following a Supreme Court ruling, MEIl was the second biggest buyer of electoral bonds at Rs 966 crore.
Apart from contributing to the BJP, the firm also donated Rs 195 crore to the BRS, Rs 85 crore to DMK, and Rs 37 crore to YSRCP. The TDP got about Rs 25 crore from the company, while the Congress got Rs 17 crore. The JD-S, Jana Sena Party and the JD-U got smaller sums ranging from Rs 5 crore to Rs 10 crore.
In the FIR, the CBI has said it had registered a preliminary enquiry (PE) on August 10, 2023 regarding the alleged bribery in Rs 315 crore project related to works of intake well and pump house and cross-country pipeline at the integrated steel plant of the NMDC in Jagdalpur, which was awarded to the company.
“Based on the findings of the PE, a recommendation was made on March 18 to register a regular case into the alleged bribery which was filed on March 31,” the CBI FIR read.
The CBI has named eight officials of NISP and NMDC Ltd — retired executive director Prashant Dash; director (production) D K Mohanty; deputy general manager P K Bhuyan;
D M Naresh Babu; senior manager Subro Banerjee; retired CGM (finance) L Krishna Mohan; general manager (finance) K Rajshekhar; and manager (finance) Somnath Ghosh, who allegedly received Rs 73.85 lakh in bribe.