New Delhi: A late-night hawala cash delivery to a defence Public Sector Undertaking (PSU) official’s Pune home was the CBI’s first lead. They followed the money, which led them not just to an alleged bribery-linked defence contract but also to a high-profile name that had not figured in their initial investigation.
The cash delivery was intercepted, and a total of Rs 1.7 crore was recovered from the scene. As the CBI traced the money backwards through the hawala network to identify its source, it led them to Ashish Kansal, the Chief Executive Officer and director of defence manufacturer SMPP Limited, ThePrint has learnt.
Kansal is a prominent public face, almost a poster boy, of India’s private defence sector, frequently appearing on television shows and at public events. He has been part of the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce & Industry’s (FICCI) Defence and Homeland Security Committee, as the co-chair. Kansal has also led delegations to other shores.
The delivery to Anil Kumar, a senior executive director at state-run Munitions India Limited (MIL), led to his arrest and allegedly exposed a bribery trail linked to a Rs 500-crore defence contract and leakage of sensitive information.
According to an agency source, the CBI had received a tip-off about a large hawala payment headed to Kumar’s home. What investigators did not know then was who was at the other end of the transaction. Tracing the payment through a chain of intermediaries led them to Kansal, whose company has been engaged in defence manufacturing for over three decades.
“When we intercepted the hawala money during the search, we did not know it had allegedly been sent by Kansal. The person delivering it gave us one link, which led to another. We followed the trail backwards until we traced the sender,” the source said.
“It was then that we found Kansal had allegedly paid the bribe in connection with a Rs 500-crore project and sensitive information,” the source added.
In its First Information Report, the CBI has alleged that Kansal was in regular contact with Kumar regarding a Rs 500-crore contract awarded to the company to supply ammunition to MIL over a year. Ravit Kumar Tewatia, an SMPP employee, was also in contact with Kumar as part of the alleged conspiracy, the FIR said.
Once this was established the CBI moved to arrest the CEO along with Kumar, the source added.
According to the FIR, a copy of which is with ThePrint, the CBI received information that Kumar, in connivance with certain private contractors and vendors, was demanding and accepting bribes in exchange for “official favours and disclosing sensitive information concerning defence production, procurement and other strategically important activities of MIL”.
The CBI has also alleged that Kumar had been routing and parking substantial portions of the illicit proceeds through his wife, Chetnashri, his brother, Harshvardhan, and other relatives. Harshvardhan has also been arrested.
(Edited by Nardeep Singh Dahiya)