Jamshedpur, April 2: A sub-divisional engineer of Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) in Dhanbad and at least five touts of the department were taken into custody by sleuths from the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) during an early morning crackdown on a scam involving the Wireless in Local Loop (WiLL) connections.
Raids and searches were conducted in eight places across Jharkhand and Bihar. CBI officials claimed having recovered many incriminating documents related to the scam.
Sources in the agency said the sleuths swooped on the residence of sub-divisional engineer Prem Shankar Prasad in the upmarket Kusum Vihar colony of Dhanbad around 5.30 am. Five WLL sets, many documents, jewellery and cash were recovered during the search conducted simultaneously at his ancestral home in Bhagalpur.
The sources pointed out that the raid was a part of the inquiry initiated by the CBI last year when it had raided the godowns of BSNL in Saraidhela area. It was during the course of the raids that the sleuths laid their hands on some documents related to the WLL connections provided illegally to some influential businessmen. A formal case has been registered by the Dhanbad unit.
“But the agency officials were waiting for more clues and information that will firm up the case against the accused officials and their touts before initiating any concrete action. After compiling all the information gathered over the months, the CBI team identified the officials and the touts who were involved in the shady deals,” sources said.
The bureau had registered another case on March 31 (RC-4/2004) and appealed for a search warrant before the court of the special CBI judge in Dhanbad.
The sources refused to divulge the details of the cash and jewellery recovered during the raids at the officers’ houses but confirmed that the haul of documents had exposed a big racket active in the department in allotting the WiLL connections. Sources indicated that the WiLL connections meant for rural subscribers were given to influential businessmen and contractors in the city.
According to the BSNL norms, the connections are to be provided to rural subscribers on a nominal security amount of Rs 500 per connection. The security deposit for urban subscribers is Rs 10,000. Preliminary investigations by the agency revealed that the connections used by the influential men in the city were actually registered in the names of rural subscribers.
The CBI had to wait for a long time before taking any action. Bureau officials scrutinised every minute detail about the connections provided by the department. It also cross-checked with banks about the people who were paying through drafts for the bills. During the course of the investigations, the sleuths came across the five touts who were rounded up for interrogation today. They have been identified as Sunil Sharma, Pradeep Yadav, Ajay Sharan, Subir Sharma and Hemant Gupta.
The CBI team, which was led by deputy superintendent Vivek Dutta, comprised of officials from the Dhanbad unitand the anti-corruption unit of Ranchi. Sources said more arrests werelikely since the interrogation of the rounded up official and the toutswas yet to be completed.
