CBI books official of defence factory

NEWDELHI: The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has booked a manager of a Pune-based ammunition factory under the ministry of defence on allegations of conspiracy and receiving bribes from private arms dealers.

According to the probe agency, a case under sections for criminal conspiracy and criminal misconduct has been registered last week against Niranjan C Shah, who was posted as the junior works manager in the marketing and export office of Ammunition Factory Khadki (AFK) in Pune. AFK in Pune’s Khaki area is one of the 41 ordnance factories that falls under the Ordnance Factories Board (OFB). The OFB falls under the Department of Defence Production of the Ministry of Defence.

The allegation against Shah is that during his stint at AFK between 2010 to 2016, he obtained illegal gratifications to the tune of over 32 lakh rupees in different bank accounts opened by him in his name and jointly in the names of his family members. Shah allegedly had also opened some accounts in names of some of his official subordinates as well and had been striking deals with private dealers of arms and ammunition across India.

According to the FIR lodged by CBI against Shah, Shah was dealing with the sale of non-prohibited bore cartridges which are produced by AFK and supplied to registered arms dealers.

As per the regulations of AFK order for cartridges is booked by an advance booking amount after which advice notes are issued by the officer in-charge to the dealers. The dealers than have to submit a demand draft (DD) in favour of the General Manager of AFK along with necessary documents within 75 days which if not paid results in cancellation of the orfer . Further lifting of cartridges has to be done within 15 days of receiving intimation for collection, issued to the arms dealers.

It is alleged Shah entertained manipulations regarding the quantity and type of ammunition in Transport License issued by the Commissioner of Police, Pune, FIR stated. He is accused of showing undue favours to some dealers by entertaining payments received through RTGS instead of DD’s and issuing ammunition even after lapse of TL and 75 day deadline set for payment.

According to the probe documents, Shah had allegedly received ₹32.67 lakh in five bank accounts.