New Delhi: A Lieutenant Colonel-rank officer posted with the Ministry of Defence agreed to accept Rs 50 lakh in bribes—at Rs 1 lakh per flight—to facilitate clearances for cargo shipments of defence goods to a foreign country, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) alleged in its chargesheet.
The officer, Deepak Kumar Sharma, was serving as deputy planning officer (DPO) in the Department of Defence Production (DDP)’s International Cooperation and Exports (ICE) division since June 2023 when he was arrested at his Delhi residence in December 2025.
A search at his Naraina Vihar home—prompted by information that a Rs 3 lakh bribe was allegedly delivered the previous day—led to his arrest after he returned from office. CBI said he handed over the amount to the agency voluntarily during searches. The bribe was allegedly routed to him through a middleman identified as Vinod Kumar.
The clearances Sharma allegedly agreed to procure—no-objection certificates from the Bureau of Civil Aviation Security (BCAS) and landing permissions from the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA)—were required for cargo flights carrying military hardware manufactured by Bharat Dynamics Limited (BDL).
BDL is a public sector undertaking under the Ministry of Defence, and manufactures missiles, torpedoes, weapons systems and other ammunition.
The contract was held by Dubai-based DP World, through its India arm Hindustan Infralog (HIPL), the chargesheet submitted to the court last month said.
Although the chargesheet does not name the foreign country, ThePrint has previously reported that a special CBI court observed the shipments were bound for Armenia.
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The case
According to the chargesheet, the foreign country, in September 2025, nominated Hindustan Infralog as its logistics service provider for transportation of military hardware by air and sea. Its government then approached Ajay Kumar Bansal, a Group Captain-level officer at BDL who was previously posted in the same department as Sharma, for assistance with transportation.
Bansal introduced Sharma to Rajiv Yadav and Ravjit Singh — identified as India-based representatives of DP World. Singh is a former Indian Army officer who retired last year.
According to CBI, the visitors’ register of the DDP office in New Delhi showed that the duo made three visits between 30 September and 19 December last year. During a meeting on 30 September, Sharma allegedly made his demand explicit.
“Investigation has revealed that during the meeting on 30.09.2025, Deepak Sharma allegedly demanded from Rajiv Yadav and Ravjit Singh a ‘facilitation fee’ of INR 1,00,000 per flight to expedite these permissions,” CBI said in its chargesheet.
Yadav had set out what HIPL needed: timely aircraft operations at Mumbai Airport, BCAS NOCs, and DGCA flight clearances. Norms state that any foreign-registered aircraft requires prior DGCA clearance, issued upon receipt of a request through a flight-clearing agency or the Ministry of External Affairs.
By 2 October, Singh was already in contact with Sharma to work out the modalities of the initial Rs 3 lakh payment, CBI alleged.
Emails ‘not authorised’
The agency said that Sharma, “misusing his official position, connections and influence” with the MEA, BCAS, Ministry of Civil Aviation, and DGCA, facilitated the issuance of clearances, NOCs, and approvals in favour of aircraft hired by HIPL.
He sent several emails to DGCA, the Ministry of Civil Aviation, and the BCAS, requesting flight clearance for cargo flights carrying defence goods of strategic importance—including at least one seeking permission to ‘Grant Exemption from Cargo Screening and Physical Examination’.
These requests, the CBI said, went beyond his authority.
“Investigation revealed that DO (demi-official, a term used for formal communication by government officials) letters written by Lt Col Deepak Sharma to the authority with respect to blanket approval for all the shipments as mentioned above were issued without any approval from competent authority.
“Though, as DPO(ICE-II), he was supposed to follow up on the issue of delay in the transportation of supplies to concern foreign country, however, no authorisation was given to seek blanket approval with respect to NOCs issued for Export Authorization by the DDP by way of sending a DO letter,” the chargesheet said.
The agency also submitted transcripts of 35 calls between October and December 2025, along with chat excerpts between Sharma and the duo as evidence.
“Investigation has also revealed that he (Yadav) had offered a bribe of Rs 50 lakh to Lt Col Deepak Sharma for the upcoming 50 flight shipments to the concerned foreign locations by his company, for which Deepak Sharma had agreed,” the chargesheet read.
Sharma’s lawyers—Harsh K. Sharma, Lakshya Parashar, and Vaibhavi Sharma —argued that interception of calls was in violation of norms under the Indian Telegraph Act and the Indian Telegraph Rules. They also questioned how the agency was able to arrest the co-accused (alleged middleman Vinod) at Sharma’s house – as claimed by CBI. They said video footage of searches at Sharma’s house were not submitted before the court.
ThePrint has reached out to Sharma’s lawyers for comment on the case. The report will be updated if and when they respond.
The status, now
A Delhi court on 20 February granted Sharma bail, accepting arguments by his counsel that the investigation was complete and that his continued detention served no purpose.
ThePrint has reached out to the Ministry of Defence spokesperson with queries about disciplinary action against Sharma. The report will be updated if and when the ministry responds.
The chargesheet names co-accused: alleged middleman Vinod Kumar, Ravjit Singh and Rajiv Yadav, and UAE-based businessman Madhu Sudan Mundra, who runs an aircraft leasing and charter operations business. The aircraft for exporting defence goods was leased from Mundra’s firm.
They have been booked under Section 61(2) (criminal conspiracy) of the Bharatiya Nyay Sanhita and provisions of The Prevention of Corruption Act.
Vinod Kumar and Sharma were the only accused to be arrested. Vinod was granted bail as well.
(Edited by Prerna Madan)