The Central Bureau of Investigation has booked a general manager with Broadcast Engineering Consultants India Limited (BECIL), along with three members of a family running a company, for allegedly extending favours in the award of government contracts and expeditious clearance of pending bills, in lieu of bribes.
Among the named were BECIL general manager Ramit Lala, Fusion Corporation Solution (FCS); FCS managing director Monika Dhawan; her sister and business head Charu Khanna; and their father and director J.M.P. Khanna, besides Ms. Khanna’s driver Vishnu.
BECIL is a central public sector enterprise under the Information & Broadcasting Ministry. Its general manager has been accused of conspiring with unknown officials and extending undue favours to private companies in the tender process by framing and changing the eligibility criteria apart from expeditious payment of their pending bills, in exchange for huge bribes.
The public sector enterprise provides project consultancy services and turnkey solutions of radio and television broadcasting engineering via content production facilities; terrestrial transmission facilities; and satellite and cable broadcasting facilities in India and abroad. It sublets the jobs to various private contractors or consultants.
As alleged, the sisters and their father were pursuing with Mr. Lala the work orders for several Ministries and government departments floated by BECIL, and also for getting the pending bills cleared. Ms. Khanna allegedly negotiated the bribe amount with public servants and managed the related payments.
According to the First Information Report (FIR), Ms. Dhawan recently approached Mr. Lala for favours in getting the work orders in respect of social media and website-related projects of different Ministries, which were being floated by BECIL.
On April 17, he enquired from her about the pending bills. She informed him that all the bills, except for those related to the works executed for the Housing and Urban Affairs Ministry, had been cleared. On this, the general manager sought a meeting.
On April 19, the main accused asked Ms. Khanna for a meeting in Delhi. She told him that the amount had not been arranged yet. Two days later, her sister requested Mr. Lala to ensure that her company got the order related to the Jal Shakti and Tourism Ministries. The official informed her that he had already managed the work related to the Tourism Ministry and would do the needful for the other contract.
The FIR alleges that on April 24, Ms. Khanna told her sister that Mr. Lala had been pestering her for payment of the bribe amount and she was tired of making excuses. Ms. Dhawan then asked her father to arrange the money, which was to be sent through the driver.
