CBI raids 26 places in Naval officers' fake bills case

New Delhi: The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Thursday carried out searches at 26 locations and recovered Rs 10 lakh in a case filed against four Naval officers and 14 others for allegedly generating fake bills to the tune of Rs 6.7 crore.

A senior CBI official here said that the agency carried out searches at 26 locations in Delhi, Mumbai, Gujarat and Karnataka on the premises of the persons named in the FIR.

During the searches, the agency recovered Rs 10 lakh cash and several incriminating documents from the possession of private persons.

The CBI has booked four Navy officers and 14 others for allegedly generating fake bills of Rs 6.76 crore for supplying IT hardware to the Western Naval Command, the official said.

Captain Atul Kulkarni, Commanders Mandar Godbole and RP Sharma, and Petty Officer LOG (F&A) Kuldeep Singh Baghel allegedly prepared seven fraudulent bills of Rs 6.76 crore, the CBI said in its FIR lodged on July 21.

"All these accused naval officers abused their official position to defraud the naval authorities and rob the exchequer of public money which led to pecuniary gain to themselves," the FIR alleged.

The bills were allegedly raised between January and March in 2016 at the Western Naval Command in Mumbai for supplying information technology and networking-related hardware.

"None of the items mentioned in the bills were supplied to HQ, WNC (Western Naval Command). No documents pertaining to preparation of the bills, i.e., approvals, financial sanction, purchase orders, receipt vouchers, etc are available at HQ," the CBI FIR said.

The agency has also booked four officials of the Controller of Defence Accounts, besides private companies Star Network, ACME Networks, Cyberspace Infovision and Moksh Infosys.