CBI files FIR against Navy personnel, contractor on charges of graft

New Delhi, June 13 The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has filed an FIR against four individuals, including two Navy personnel, a contractor and a private individual, for engaging in corrupt practices to clear various bills.

The FIR was lodged against Telikicherla Ramana Kumar, a senior auditor, Besetti D. Danthi Nokeswara Rao, a data entry operator, both working at the Area Accounts Office, CDA (Navy), Visakhapatnam, and Bhanupratap Yadav, a contractor, and Subhasis Mishra, a private individual, under Section 120-B of IPC and Sections 7(a) and 8 of the Prevention of Corruption Act.

The CBI mentioned in the FIR that the Principal Controller of Defence Accounts (Navy), Ministry of Defence, is responsible for payments, accounting, and internal audit of expenditures and receipts of the Indian Navy and Coast Guard.

The area accounts office, Visakhapatnam, is responsible for payments, accounting, and internal audit of expenditures and receipts of the Indian Navy and Coast Guard in Visakhapatnam.

The CBI said that it received reliable information that Telikicherla Ramana Kumar, a senior auditor, and Nokeswara Rao, a data entry operator, at the area accounts office in Visakhapatnam were taking bribes to clear pending bills of contractors.

"We initiated an inquiry and discovered that Bhanupratap Yadav, a contractor, asked Ramana Kumar to clear his pending bills worth Rs 26 lakh.

"But Kumar asked Yadav to pay a bribe if he wanted his bills to be cleared. Yadav informed Rao, the data entry operator, that he met with an accident while going to their office and requested not to halt the processing of his bills," said an ED official.

On June 12, Yadav informed Kumar and Rao that he was ready to pay the bribe through Subhasis Mishra of Blue Sea Marine Engineering.

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