New Delhi: The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) Thursday filed a case against the general manager of a Central Public Sector Enterprise under I&B Ministry among others for allegedly helping some companies bag production and social media projects of different ministries in exchange of money.
Information was received that Broadcast Engineering Consultants India Limited (BECIL), GM, Ramit Lala, in collusion with other unknown officials, was “extending undue favours to private companies in tender process”, helping them bag work orders pertaining to social media and website related productions of different ministries, which are floated through BECIL, according to the CBI.
This, it said, was done by him by changing the eligibility criteria required to participate in the tender process.
A source in the CBI said that Lala gave projects of the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs to a company, Fusion Corporate Solution, and that negotiations were on for two more projects, one each of Ministries of Jal Shakti and Tourism.
BECIL provides project consultancy services and turnkey solutions encompassing the entire gamut of radio and television broadcast engineering; content production facilities, terrestrial transmission facilities, satellite and cable broadcasting facilities in India and abroad, its website reads.
It also provides associated services like building design and construction related to broadcasting, human resource related activities like training and providing manpower. BECIL also undertakes supply of specialised communication, monitoring, security and surveillance systems to defense, police and paramilitary departments.
For providing these services, BECIL sublets the jobs to different private contractors and consultants, who they engage after a tender process.
According to the CBI FIR, a copy of which is with ThePrint, besides taking money to award these projects, Lala also took money from representatives of these private companies to clear their pending bills for the work that they had done.
Besides Lala, Fusion Corporate Solution managing director Monica Dhawan, her sister and business head Charu Khanna and their father JMP Khanna, who is also a director in the company, were booked for allegedly paying bribes to the BECIL general manager to bag projects and also to clear their bills.
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‘Bribe paid to bag projects of ministries’
According to the FIR, Monica along with her sister and father hold several tenders of different ministries and government departments floated by the BECIL, for which they have paid bribes to Lala and other public servants.
“Charu Khanna not only assists Monica Dhawan in managing business affairs but also in negotiation of bribe money with public servants. They do this to obtain favours in award of work orders, tenders and expeditious clearing of pending bills of their company,” the FIR says.
On 17 April, Lala enquired from Monica if all their bills were cleared. To this, the CBI source said, she told him that all were cleared except the ones related to the work of the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs. This is when Lala allegedly asked her to “meet him”.
“This was done to ask for a bribe to clear those bills,” the source added.
Lala again called Charu two days later asking for a “meeting”. According to the FIR, she told the BECIL general manager that the “amount could not be arranged” and more time was required for the same.
The FIR further says that on 21 April, Monica requested Lala to ensure that her company gets the order relating to the Ministries of Jal Shakti and Tourism.
“She also urged him to help her in getting the projects in the same manner he helped her with projects of the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs. Lala told her that he has already managed the work related to the Ministry of Tourism and will help her with others as well. Monica then told him that she will send someone to meet him shortly,” the FIR says.
Monica then somehow arranged the bribe amount by taking money from her father and sent it to Lala 24 April with her driver Vishnu, the CBI source said. “Besides Lala, all three employees of the company, along with their driver who took the money to Lala, have been booked as accused.”
(Edited by Tony Rai)