Colonel among 5 army men booked for corruption by CBI

The CBI has booked five Army personnel, including a colonel, for allegedly receiving bribes worth Rs 18 lakh from a supplier of rations for troops posted in Assam and Arunachal Pradesh, officials said Wednesday.

This is the second case in the recent past when the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has registered an FIR against army officers for corruption in supplies.

In the latest case, the CBI has registered an FIR against Colonel Raman Dahda, Lieutenant Colonel Mahendra Kumar, Subedar Devender Kumar, Havildar Abhay Singh, Subedar Sahuran Sahu and supplier K K Yangfo for criminal conspiracy.

Dahda was the then Commanding Officer of the 556 Army Supply Corps and Mahendra Kumar a platoon commander. They have been also booked under provisions of the Prevention of Corruption Act. It is alleged that the officers received Rs 18 lakh in cash from civilian contractors in regard to procurement of fresh and dry rations for troops deployed in Assam and Arunachal Pradesh.

The action was taken on the basis of a complaint from the Army.

It is alleged that Dahda misused his official position and received Rs 4.15 lakh from supplier Yangfo through two transactions in the account Dahda’s father.

According to the complaint, Mahender Kumar, who was responsible for quality check, misused his official position and took Rs 1 lakh as bribe.

Subedar Devender Kumar allegedly took a bribe of Rs 2.04 lakh, Havildar Abhay Kumar Rs 98,000 and Subedar Sahuran Saho Rs 7.65 lakh in three transactions from Yangfo.

Yangfo, a civilian contractor in Arunachal Pradesh’s Tawang, supplied ration for the Army between 2015 and 2017. The CBI carried out a preliminary inquiry which revealed that undue advantage was paid to an entire chain of officials and unit representatives involved in checking of quality and quantity of items being supplied by Yangfo.

Following the inquiry the agency has registered an FIR against the suspects.

The agency had registered a similar FIR against Lt Col Amit Sharma and Lt Col Sutikshan Rana, officers of the Army Service Corps, who allegedly received bribes worth Rs 82 lakh between 2012 and 2016 from a supplier of ration in Nagaland.