CBI files charge sheet against two BRO officials

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has filed a charge sheet against two senior Border Road Organisation (BRO) officials in a Shimla court for allegedly procuring telephone exchanges in 2009 from a company at a highly exorbitant rate, an investigating officer said Wednesday.

Both BRO officials -- Brig J.K. Narang and lt. Col. Chanchal Jhamb -- were posted in Project Deepak's Shimla headquarters when they procured the equipment. The charge sheet was filed Tuesday against them in the court of Special Judge (CBI) P.S. Rana, CBI Superintendent of Police R. Upasak told IANS.

Upasak said a case against Brig. Narang, who was earlier posted here as chief engineer, lt.Col. Jhamb and functionaries of Siemens Enterprises Communication Pvt. ltd., New Delhi, was registered in February last year. The CBI accused the public servants of procuring 14 telephone exchanges worth Rs.1.25 crore in 2009 from Siemens Enterprises, causing losses to the tune of Rs.61.69 lakh to the central government exchequer.

The exchanges were installed in BRO offices in Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand. The CBI during searches last year at the residence of Brig. Narang in Noida in Uttar Pradesh recovered Rs.1.33 lakh in cash, more than Rs.30 lakh in bank accounts, Rs.15 lakh in mutual funds and ornaments worth Rs.500,000 in a locker.

Documents containing details about four plots, two flats and a two-storeyed building of valuation of more than Rs.1.50 crore, two cars in the name of Narang and his relatives have been found by the CBI, official sources said. The BRO, an inter-services organisation under the defence ministry, maintains the strategically important highways across the country. Project Deepak in Himachal Pradesh maintains, among others, the 222-km stretch between Manali and Sarchu, part of the 475-km Manali-leh National Highway-21.