
The CBI has uncovered a new corruption case involving Megha Engineering and Infrastructure Ltd (MEIL). According to reports, MEIL was awarded a contract, and government officials received a substantial amount of money in connection with this.
The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has filed a corruption case against Megha Engineering and Infrastructure Ltd (MEIL) and several officials from NMDC Limited, NMDC Iron and Steel Plant (NISP) Limited, and MECON Limited. The case is related to a work contract worth over ₹314.57 crore.
NMDC Limited, formerly National Mineral Development Corporation, is an Indian public sector undertaking involved in the exploration of iron ore, copper, rock phosphate, limestone, dolomite, gypsum, bentonite, magnesite, diamond, tin, tungsten, graphite, coal etc.
MECON Limited, formerly known as Metallurgical & Engineering Consultants (India) Limited is a central public sector undertaking. It is under the ownership of Ministry of Steel, Government of India.
The CBI registered the First Information Report (FIR) on March 31. The accused include MEIL, its general manager Subhash Chandra Sangras, and officials from NMDC Limited and MECON Limited. The investigation was initiated based on a complaint filed by the chief vigilance officer of NMDC Hyderabad against Mr. Dash and others.
Among the accused are MEIL, its general manager Subhash Chandra Sangras; NMDC Limited’s executive director (now retired) Prasant Dash; NMDC director (production)/NISP director Dilip Kumar Mohanty; NISP deputy general manager Pradeep Kumar Bhuyan; deputy manager (survey) Naresh Babu, senior manager Suvro Banerjee, and chief general manager (finance) L. Krishna Mohan (now retired).
K. Rajshekhar, NMDC general manager (finance), and Somnath Ghosh, manager (finance); Sanjeev Sahay, now-retired MECON Limited assistant general manager (contracts) and K. Illavarsu, its now-retired deputy general manager (contracts), have also been named.
The alleged corruption revolves around a contract awarded to MEIL for the construction of an intake well, pump house, drinking water treatment plant, and cross-country pipeline in Jagdalpur, Chhattisgarh. The contract was signed in January 2015 between NMDC Limited and a consortium comprising MEIL and Koya Company Construction Limited.
During the investigation, the CBI found email communications suggesting that payments were made to the accused officials for various favors, such as clearing bills and invoices. It is alleged that fake vouchers were created to falsely show payments to laborers. The CBI also discovered details of the amounts that were supposed to be given to different officials.
Based on their findings, the CBI alleges that the officials from NISP and NMDC Limited received ₹73,85,517, while the officials from MECON Limited received ₹5,01,735. These amounts were in relation to the payment of over ₹174.41 crore made by NMDC Limited to MEIL for 73 invoices raised by MEIL and Mr. Sangras until December 2018.
MEIL donated large sums of money to several political parties using electoral bonds. They gave ₹584 crore to the BJP, ₹195 crore to the Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS), ₹85 crore to the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK), ₹37 crore to the Yuvajana Sramika Rythu Congress Party (YSRCP), ₹28 crore to the Telugu Desam Party (TDP), and ₹18 crore to the Indian National Congress. MEIL’s subsidiary, Western U.P. Power Transmission Company Limited, also donated ₹110 crore to the Congress and ₹80 crore to the BJP.