A Special CBI Court in Kochi on Thursday left in the custody of the CBI VK Pande, general manager of the Defence Ordnance Factory at Medak in Andhra Pradesh and an official of a Kerala PSU in the case pertaining to corruption in the supply of battle tank parts to two Defence sector establishments in South India.
Pande and V Valsan, marketing manager of Steel and Industrial Forgings ltd (SIFl) at Athani in Kerala’s Thrissur district, were left in the CBI custody for three days for further questioning while three others the agency had arrested the other day along with them were remanded in judicial custody for 14 days.
Those who were arrested along with Pande and Valsan were S Shanavas, former managing director of the SIFl, T Muralidhar Bhagavat, managing director of AMW-MGM Forgings Pvt ltd, Mysore and its deputy general manager KR Mugilan. Sources said that the CBI could question certain other Defence sector officials in the coming days in connection with case.
The investigating agency recorded the arrest of Pande late Wednesday night after getting clearance from the Central Government. The CBI arrested all the five on the basis of the statement given in the court by a Mumbai-based woman Subi Mally, owner of Subishi Impex and intermediary for the controversial Defence supply contracts.
The case pertains to the alleged corruption in the supply contract entered into by the SIFl with the Ordinance Factory in Medak and Heavy Vehicles Factory at Avadi, Chennai for manufacture of Arjun battle tanks in 2012. The SIFl is a regular supplier of machine parts used in the manufacture of battle tanks.
The CBI had in February listed Panda as a key accused in the case after detailed questioning in the presence of Subi Mally, fourth accused in the case. She was arrested earlier and was made an approver in the case. Mally also had appeared in the court on Thursday.
Investigations had revealed that Mally had been mediating for deals between the SIFl and the Ordinance factories on commission basis causing huge losses to the Government. It is said that she had managed to re-fix supply contracts through manipulations which led to a 60-per cent rise in the contract amount, for earning a 12-percent commission.
The deal had come to light after the director board of the SIFl raised objections on the payment of commission. Shanavas, appointed as SIFl’s managing director after the Congress-led UDF came to power in the State, was removed after the deal was exposed.
The CBI, which had in a raid conducted in January last at the house of Shanavas, had confiscated `4.5 lakh kept
in a suitcase.
On Thursday, it was confirmed that this money was given to him by Subi from her bank account as shares of Shanavas and Valsan of the commission earned in the deal.
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