New Delhi, December 22
The CBI has received sanctions from the government to prosecute four serving and retired Navy officers in connection with alleged corruption in purchase of spare parts to retrofit Russian Kilo-class submarines, officials said today.
‘Irregularities’ in purchase of spare parts
- Sanction given to prosecute Commander SJ Singh (retd) and three serving commanders Ajit Pandey, Abhishek Kumar Shar and Jagdeesh Chander
- Their names figure in CBI chargesheets over alleged corruption in purchase of spare parts to retrofit Russian Kilo-class submarines
The officials said that the CBI had filed chargesheets in November last year, which was within two months of initiating a probe into a corruption case.
After filing the chargesheet, the CBI had sought the government’s sanction to prosecute accused Navy officers, including Commander SJ Singh (retired) and three serving commanders — Ajit Pandey, Abhishek Kumar Shar and Jagdeesh Chander, they said. The government has given the sanction to prosecute the four accused figuring in the the chargesheets, which means that the trial in the case was likely to begin soon, the officials noted.
Section 19 of the Prevention of Corruption Act makes it mandatory for the CBI to get the government’s nod before initiating the prosecution of an accused, they said.
The officials said the CBI had already intimated to the special court here that it had got the government’s nod to prosecute the officials.
The CBI had registered a case against the accused on the basis of inputs received by it that some serving officers at the Western Headquarters of the Navy, working on retrofitting Russian Kilo-class submarines, were allegedly influenced by retired officers and receiving pecuniary benefits, the officials said.
After registering a case on September 2, the agency conducted searches the next day, during which two retired officers, Commodore Randeep Singh and Commander SJ Singh were arrested in a trap operation, they said, adding that an amount of Rs 2.4 crore was recovered, which included the trap money. Subsequently, the CBI took Commander Ajeet Kumar Pandey into custody, they said.
The officials said an alleged “hawala” operator and the director of a private company were also taken into custody during the probe in connection with the case.