KOCHI: The NIA court on Friday convicted two persons who were arrested for stealing computer gadgets from India’s first indigenous aircraft carrier INS Vikrant while it was under construction at Cochin Shipyard in 2019. The duo pleaded guilty when produced before the court for framing charges against them.
Sumit Kumar Singh of Bihar was sentenced to five years of rigorous imprisonment and fined Rs1.7 lakh. Second accused Daya Ram of Rajasthan was convicted for three years and a fine of Rs.1.7 lakh was imposed on him.
Sumit and Daya, employed by a contractor who was roped in for painting work, entered the aircraft carrier construction site at the Cochin Shipyard on various days in August and September 2019 to steal the hardware. Twenty components, including five microprocessors, 10 RAMs, and five solid-state drives (SSD), were stolen by the accused.
The Kochi City police which first investigated the case transferred it to the NIA. One of the components was sold for Rs.5,000 on an online website that sells pre-owned goods when the duo was staying in Kochi. The stolen goods were later recovered from the house of Sumit’s brother in Gujarat.