KOCHI: The Central Bureau of Investigation has registered a case in the corruption incident involving officials of Pawan Hans Helicopters Ltd (PHHL) for the helicopter service provided at Lakshwadeep. The CBI has arraigned five officials of PHHL including its General Manager in the case.
According to CBI officials, the FIR of the case was registered at Kavaratti Principal Sessions Court a few weeks ago. The accused in the case are S K Das, General Manager, PHHL, Mumbai Region; C M Somanathan, Deputy General Manager, Finance, Mumbai; H N Ghad, Deputy General Manager, Personnel and Administration, Mumbai; Sheherban Muhammad, Base Assistant, Lakshadweep; V A Alexander, PHHL Officer at Cochin International Airport Limited and unknown persons. A team under P A Abdul Asiz, Inspector of CBI, is conducting the investigation. The case has been registered under various sections of Prevention of Corruption Act.
PHHL Chopper UNder the cloud
The case involves corruption in operating the two PHHL choppers for various emergency cases in various islands of Lakshwadeep from 2008 to 2013. As per the initial investigation, a fund of Rs 1.30 crore was diverted using vouchers and travel bills submitted by the accused at the headquarters of PHHL. The fund for the helicopters service is provided by the Lakshadweep Administration. The details of the helicopter service was exaggerated and bill in this regard was submitted at the headquarters of PHHL. Similarly, corruption also taken place in encashing the cheques given to Airport Authority of India(AAI) as rent for helicopter space at the airport in Lakshwadeep. “We conducted raids at the residences of the accused in Kerala and Mumbai. Some of the them were also interrogated. Further interrogation would continue. The helicopters are operated by PHHL mainly for airlifting the patients,”the CBI official said. The CBI also suspects the involvement of officials in Lakshwadeep Administration and officials of a nationalised bank in the case.
