The CBI has registered a second FIR against IITM-Pune scientist Gurfan Beig and others for the alleged graft in clearing China-made LED boards for air quality and weather information display at exorbitant rates to be installed in Ahmedabad.
Beig was earlier charge-sheeted in a separate case related to such LED boards to be installed in Pune. Recently, a special court had dismissed his application seeking discharge from the case.
The fresh case, filed recently, relates to the installation of LED boards in Ahmedabad. The agency has alleged that Beig and other unidentified officials of the Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology (IITM) had diluted the terms and conditions and the essential specifications of items in the tender for the installation of the digital display system (DDS) under the project System for Air Quality and Weather Forecasting & Research for Ahmedabad (SAFAR-Ahmedabad).
The tender for 12 LED display boards, four indoor LED displays to be supplied, fixed and installed along with an operation and maintenance contract for five years was awarded to Mumbai-based Video Wall India Private Limited, officials said.
It is also alleged that Anil Girkar, director of Video Wall India, fraudulently claimed that his company was an original equipment manufacturer (OEM) of the boards. However, he imported the panels from China and assembled them for supply to the IITM.