CBI files case against SAIL officials, Bokaro Steel Plant head

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) filed a chargesheet on Thursday in a Dhanbad court against 13 Steel Authority of India Ltd (SAIL) officials, including a former managing director of the Bokaro Steel Plant (BSL), for alleged fraud in recruiting middle- and junior-level officials.

Among those named are V K Srivastava, then MD of BSL; Jeevesh Mishra, then executive director, BSL, and two general managers, R K Narula and Om Prakash Gupta.

The charges are of cheating, forgery, criminal conspiracy and corruption. CBI says applications were called through an advertisement in a Mumbai newspaper and applicants were asked to send the filled form and testimonials at an “incomplete address”. The experience certificates of some of those selected, also named in the chargesheet, were “forged”; the degree of another chosen candidate “was irregular as he secured two degrees during the same period” as a student. And, one other chosen by wrong means.

Further, the selection was done for the Chennai office of BSL but none of these selected were posted there. “Investigation has also revealed that most of the provisions of recruitment manuals of BSL/SAIL in respect of recruitment of the alleged posts were violated in processing/selection of the candidates,” a CBI spokesperson said.