NEW DELHI: The CBI has registered a case against VRS Natarajan, CMD of Bangalore-based PSU Bharat Earth Movers Limited (BEML), for alleged corruption in awarding a contract to a private consultancy firm at inflated rates. The CBI’s investigations in the case have revealed that for the same type and amount of work, other PSU’s have hired consultants at substantially less cost.
A CBI official said, “Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited (BHEL) and Bharat Electronics Limited (BEL) have awarded ERP contracts at much lesser price than BEML.”
The probe agency has also registered a case CS Srivatsan, CMD of Astral Consultants, in this regard. VRS Natarajan, CMD of Bangalore-based PSU Bharat Earth Movers Limited (BEML) and Srivatsan have been booked by CBI on charges of criminal conspiracy, cheating and accepting illegal gratification and relevant sections of Indian Penal Code (IPC) and
Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988. The case registered by CBI states that, “The Natarajan- Srivatsan duo entered into a criminal conspiracy at Bangalore and other places between 2004-09 to cheat BEML in the award of different works relating to implementation of ERP which caused wrongful loss to BEML and wrongful gain to others.”
Meanwhile, the CBI on Thursday questioned Brig PC Das (Retd) and Col Anil Datta (Retd) for acting as lobbyists on behalf of Messrs Vectra group post retirement. The agency also grilled Anil Mansa Ramani, a senior executive working for the Vectra group.
CBI investigations revealed the involvement of Das and Datta, who allegedly did ‘liaison’ work for Vectra group. It is probing what kind of liaison the duo did for Vectra.