BHUBANESWAR: The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Friday arrested the chief mechanical engineer of Paradip Port Trust (PPT) and three others, including a senior executive of a stevedoring firm, in an alleged bribery scandal.
Chief Mechanical Engineer of Paradip Port Trust, Saroj Kumar Das has been accused of frequently demanding bribes through his conduit, Sumanta Rout, to extend benefits to private stakeholders engaged in services and activities in Paradip Port.
Rout was in close contact with Sankha Subhra Mitra, manager of port operations of KCT Group. Mitra was reportedly acting as a middle-man for other cargo companies.
A CBI spokesperson said, the staff of Cuttack-based Orissa Stevedores Limited (OSL) damaged the conveyor belt in Paradip Port during the unloading of cargo. The cost of repair and replacement of the conveyor belt was very high but it was done at the cost of the port’s resources which resulted in huge financial benefit to the stevedores firm. The central agency said Das and Rout in connivance with director of OSL Charchit Mishra executed this.
Subsequently, Das demanded Rs 60 lakh bribe through Rout from OSL for extending the financial benefits. Rout allegedly collected Rs 25 lakh from the private firm’s officials in Cuttack and handed over Rs 10 lakh to a real estate developer in Bhubaneswar which had booked a property with Das.
CBI intercepted Rout in Paradip and recovered Rs 5 lakh of the bribe amount. The central agency later recovered Rs18.30 lakh from him.
During searches at the residence of the chief mechanical engineer, CBI recovered Rs 20.25 lakh, jewellery, papers related to investments and other incriminating documents from the spot.
The CBI officers conducted searches at the property of the accused in 15 locations including Paradip, Cuttack, Jagatsinghpur and Bhubaneswar. They seized Rs 41 lakh from the premises of OSL director Mishra.
CBI has registered a case in this regard against chief mechanical engineer Das, Rout, Mitra, Mishra, DGM (operations) of Stevedores Surya Narayan Sahoo and Debapriya Mohanty of KCT Group.
The agency has also booked Orissa Stevedores Limited and other unknown individuals in connection with the case.
Sources said CBI officials questioned the managing director of OSL Mahimananda Mishra, his son and director Charchit were interrogated on Thursday.