SOME OFFICIALS AND ACCOMPLICES CONNIVED TO DAMAGE INDIA'S KEY STRATEGIC ASSET

On 7 December, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) registered a First Information Report (FIR) against 12 named and one unnamed accused for their alleged involvement in a corruption case involving construction at 10 sites, including underground sites, across India that would house infrastructure and men as a part of the strategic Integrated Air Command and Control System (IACCS).

- ABHINANDAN MISHRA

Out of these 13 individuals, six were or are associated with Bharat Electronics Limited (BEL), which is one of the nine Public Sector Undertakings (PSUS) which functions under the direct control of the Ministry of Defence. The rest are private individuals, contractors, and owners of companies, who from 2011 to 2017, in connivance with the BEL officials, siphoned off money that was allotted by Government of India (GOI) to build these IACCS sites. The total project is worth Rs 7,900 crore.

As per the CBI's case, these senior BEL officials, some of whom, after retiring, went on to join other private companies, connived with the owners of a private company and allotted the entire project work to one company and its sister concerns in blatant disregard of all existing laws and rules. The IAF had initiated the process to build these sites in May 2011. These strategic IACCS sites (10 are planned across India) are being brought into existence to facilitate centralised command and control by automated integration of all air defence resources. For example, the Bengaluru node of IACCS that was inaugurated in 2019, is to handle the air operations of the entire Southern peninsula.

On 10 December, three days after the registration of the FIR, accused number one, Sunil Kumar Sharma, who was the General Manager (GM) and CMD, Network Centring System (NCS) with BEL at the time before going on to become the CMD, resigned as an Independent Director from "Paras Defence & Space Technologies Limited", citing recuperation needed in view of "a major surgery" he had a few months back. Sharma had joined Paras on 8 January 2019 for a period of 5 years. As per official documents, he was/is associated as Director with Astra MicroWave Products Limited, Smile Electronics Limited, Power Grid Corporation of India Limited, Bhavyabhanu Electronics Private Limited and Powergrid Unchahar Transmission Limited.