Court orders probe into alleged dredging scam at Kandla Port

A district court in Kutch has directed the Gujarat Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) to probe charges of alleged corruption in dredging at the central government-run Kandla Port Trust (KPT) here.
On May 27, Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate Kumari Deepti Swaminarayan of Gandhidham court had directed ACB to probe alleged corruption after a plea filed by KPT's public relations officer Sanjay Bhati.
Bhati had alleged that KPT's Chief Vigilance officer (CVO) P Ramjee was involved in dereliction of duty in the course of probing a Rs 1,000-crore scam since he reduced the scam amount to Rs 100 crore.
"The dredging contract, which is an operation to remove mud and silts from the sea near KPT jetties, was given to a private company, which did not do the same, but got bills passed in the name of the said activity," as per a complaint before the court.

"Since dredging was not conducted, big ships and vessels were grounded in muds and silt at Kandla Port Trust several times," it said.
"Having known about corruption in dredging, I had filed a complaint before the Government of India's Chief Vigilance Commissioner in 2011 and it revealed irregularities of around Rs 1,000 crore in the KPT dredging deal," it said.

Bhati has also alleged that Ramjee, a 1998-batch Rajasthan cadre IPS officer, made several appointments in KPT disregarding legal procedures.
Bhati accused Ramjee of corruption in building cement roads, fencing, repairing jetties and railway tracks in KPT.
Bhati alleged in his plea that Ramjee had threatened him with dire consequences, which he had audio recorded using his cellular phone.