CBI files case against MTNL officials

As part of its probe into alleged irregularities into the conduct of the Commonwealth Games (CWG), 2010, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Wednesday registered a First Information Report (FIR) against several accused persons, including four former/serving Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Limited (MTNL) officials, for the alleged award of a broadcast network contract at an exorbitant rate of Rs 570.12 crore to a Noida-based private firm.

As part of its probe into alleged irregularities into the conduct of the Commonwealth Games (CWG), 2010, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Wednesday registered a First Information Report (FIR) against several accused persons, including four former/serving Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Limited (MTNL) officials, for the alleged award of a broadcast network contract at an exorbitant rate of Rs 570.12 crore to a Noida-based private firm.

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The accused MTNL officials, according to CBI's spokesperson Dharini Mishra, had allegedly manipulated the contract's tendering process/specifications, and the scope of the contracted work by enhancing it in such a manner as to "make them tailor-made" for the Noida-based firm, HCL Infosystems. The firm deals with optical fibre transmission.

"The broadcasting data transmission requirements for CWG 2010 were very limited, based on optical fiber transmission for which an initial estimate of approx Rs 31.43 crore was prepared," said a CBI source.

But, MTNL, at the behest of the accused persons, had later allegedly included in their proposal Broadcast Video Network that hiked the expenditure by around Rs 380.04 crore, said the source. "This resulted in a huge loss to the government exchequer and wrongful gain to the Noida-based private company," said the source.