Sources say that employees of Tata Projects had been caught offering bribes to the Executive Director of Power Grid Corporation, from whom, CBI has recovered Rs 93 lakh.
HIGHLIGHTS:
- CBI, on Thursday, arrested an executive director of Power Grid Corporation of India Ltd, Itanagar, and five employees of a Noida-based company in connection to a bribery case.
- Sources said some employees of Tata Projects had been caught offering bribes.
CBI arrests those in connection with a bribery case of Tata Projects
The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) said on Thursday that it has arrested BS Jha, executive director of Power Grid Corporation of India Ltd, Itanagar, and five employees of a private company based in Noida in a bribery case.
The agency said a case was registered against the executive director and others including a private company based at Noida as well as its executive vice president, head of transmission & distribution, business head of distribution and the assistant vice president, two employees, and rest unnamed.
Sources claimed that some employees of Tata Projects were allegedly caught offering bribes to B S Jha, the Executive Director of Power Grid Corporation. During raids, the CBI recovered Rs 93 lakh from Jha’s residence. Among those arrested from Tata Projects in connection are Desraj Pathak, Executive Vice president, and R S Singh, Assistant Vice president.
A CBI press report said that it was alleged that the public servant in conspiracy with others was also involved in extending favors to the private company in question for various activities such as preparation of inflated bills, early clearing of bills, Price Variation Clause, and more tasks related to contracts of Power Grid Corporation of India Ltd. This came instead of the demand and acceptance of illegal gratification, CBI said.
The CBI release said that the accused were to be brought before the Court of Special Judge today under CBI cases, Panchkula, and was to be kept under police custody up to July 15.
An amount of approximately Rs 93 lakh was retrieved from BS Jha’s residence, the Executive Director of Power Grid Corporation of India Limited.
CBI details crimes
A CBI spokesperson said that the company bagged tenders related to the North Eastern Region Power System Improvement Project (NERPSIP) and the Comprehensive Scheme for Sikkim and Arunachal Pradesh from the Power Grid Corporation.
According to the Ministry of Power, the project is about the development of the power sector in the North East and is inspired by the “Pasighat Proclamation on Power” showcased during the first Sectoral Summit of the North Eastern Council at Pasighat in Arunachal Pradesh in January 2007.
According to the Ministry, the scheme was already approved in December 2014 as a Central Sector Plan Scheme under the Ministry of Power and was being funded with the assistance of the World Bank and the Government of India through budget support by the Ministry of Power on a 50:50 basis except for the capacity building component for Rs 89 crore, which was to be funded entirely by the Centre.
Implementation of infrastructure in the North East Region will then create a reliable power grid and improve the connectivity of North-Eastern states to the developing load centers, thereby extending the benefits of the grid-connected power to all strata of consumers and beneficiaries in the North Eastern Region.
The scheme is also expected to increase the per capita power consumption of the North-Eastern States, and will therefore contribute to the collective economic development of the North-Eastern Region. Following this, implementing agencies are hiring a considerable amount of local manpower to support their construction works and generating a lot of employment for both skilled and unskilled manpower of the North-Eastern Region.
