CBI files FIR in bribery case against Megha Engineering, 2nd biggest buyer of electoral bonds

Megha Engineering, which was the second-largest buyer of electoral bonds amounting to Rs 966 crore, is under investigation, reported Hindustan Times.

The firm's name also appeared in the Income Tax Department's probe into unaccounted income acquired by Congress during the assessment periods from 2014-15 to 2020-21.

The Delhi High Court's ruling on March 22 suggested that these transactions seemed to be "unreported transfers" made by Hyderabad-based MEIL during three of these years, the report said.

On March 18, a deputy superintendent of police at the CBI's Chhattisgarh office communicated with higher authorities regarding the preliminary enquiry, which turned out to be a precursor to the FIR, initiated in August of the previous year, said the report

As stated in the FIR disclosed on Saturday, officials from NMDC and MECON allegedly received bribes exceeding Rs 78 lakh for the payment of over Rs 174 crore against 73 invoices until December 2018. These transactions were linked to work associated with the Jagdalpur integrated steel plant.

The company in question was awarded the project pertaining to the construction of the intake well, pump house, and cross-country pipeline at the integrated steel plant in Jagdalpur, the HT report said.

Those named in the FIR include MEIL, its general manager Subhash Chandra Sangras and public servants - Prasant Dash (former executive director of NMDC Ltd, now retired), Dilip Kumar Mohanty (director production at NMDC Iron and Steel Plant or NISP), Pradeep Kumar Bhuyan (DGM NISP), Naresh Babu (deputy manager, Survey NISP), Suvro Banerjee (senior manager NISP), L Krishna Mohan (chief general manager, finance, NMDC, now retired), K Rajshekhar (general manager, finance NMDC), Somnath Ghosh (manager finance, NMDC), Sanjeev Sahay (AGM Contracts, MECON Ltd), and K Illavars (DGM Contracts, MECON Ltd, now retired), according to the report.

As per the FIR reviewed by HT, it alleges that the contract for constructing the intake well, pump house, DWTP (Domestic Water Treatment Plant), and cross-country pipeline, along with a 5-year operation and maintenance contract for NMDC Iron and Steel Plant (NISP Ltd), was granted to Megha Engineering.

This contract, in consortium with another company, Koya and Company Ltd (KCCL) of Hyderabad, was awarded on January 23, 2015, for the construction of a 3.0 MTPA integrated steel plant in Nagarnar, Jagdalpur, at a value of Rs 314.57 crore.

MECON Ltd was engaged by NMDC to provide consultant services for project management and construction supervision (PMC).