The CBI has registered a case against five officials of Hindustan Copper Limited, including two former CMDs and Executive Director of the public sector undertaking, in case of cheating and graft.
The officials named in the FIR are then CMD Kailash Dhar Diwan and former Executive Director (Materials and Contract) Dilip Kumar Mahajan, General Manager (Projects) Vinay Kumar Singh, then Director (Operation) and former CMD Santosh Sharma and then Assistant General Manager (Industrial Engineering) Vivek Gupta and unknown others.
The case registered under Indian Penal Code (IPC) Sections relating criminal conspiracy and cheating besides relevant provisions of the Prevention of Corruption Act connected to criminal misconduct follows a Preliminary Enquiry about the alleged irregularities and misconduct under the tenure of then CMD Santosh Sharma from 2013 to 2019 in various contracts floated by the PSU at Malanjkhand (Madhya Pradesh) and Khetri (Rajasthan).
The PE revealed that the then CMD Kailsah Dhar Diwan “conspired” with then Director (Operation) Santosh Sharma, then AGM Vivek Gupta and “committed criminal misconduct” by abusing their official position for award of tender of pilot plant at Khetri Copper Complex to STPL Chennai for extracting metals from tailings.
The enquiry further revealed that the desired quantity of metals such as gold, silver and silica could not be recovered from the pilot plant leading to its discontinuation of the plant.
The PE also revealed that Diwan allegedly conspired with Sntosh Sharma, Vivek Gupta and Vinay Kumar Singh (then DGM Projects) for installation of a commercial plant at Malanjkhand even before the pilot plant was commissioned at Khetri.
The PE revealed that during the period 2016 to 2020, Diwan in connivance with Santosh Sharma, Dilip Kumar Mahajan (then Executive Director), Vinay Kumar Singh, Vivek Gupta and unknown public servants and private persons committed irregularities and misconduct in the tender for installation and commissioning of Copper Ore Tailing plant at Malanjkhand Copper Plant at Malanjkhand in Balaghat district of Madhya Pradesh for Rs 280 crore to favour Star Trace pvt. Ltd., Chennai.
The enquiry revealed that the accused allegedly used restrictive methods so that the other bidder apart from STPL could submit a meaningful bid. They also allegedly diluted the Pre Qualification Criteria for the award of tender to STPL by reducing the PQC from Rs 60 crore to Rs 50 crore to make STPL eligible for the tender.