The CBI has arrested a senior executive of Munitions India Limited (MIL) for taking bribes in return for favours and supplying sensitive defence information related to a Rs 500 crore supply contract, officials said on Wednesday.
Anil Kumar was nabbed after being booked in an FIR in which the agency has also named the SMPP CEO Ashish Kansal, they said.
Kumar is an executive director (Level-14) at Munitions India Limited, Pune, while Kansal is the CEO and director-promoter of SMPP Limited, an ammunition manufacturing firm.
The agency has alleged that Kumar, in connivance with certain private contractors and vendors, accepted illegal gratification in exchange for extending official favours and disclosing sensitive information concerning defence production, procurement, and other strategically important activities of MIL.
Sources said Kumar is currently in police custody. No immediate reaction was available from SMPP on the developments.
"Such unauthorised disclosure has the potential to compromise the nation's strategic and security interests, undermine the integrity of defence-related processes, and pose serious risks to national security and public safety," the CBI alleged in the FIR.
"The source has further revealed that Ashish Kansal, CEO and Director/Promoter of M/s SMPP Limited, a company engaged in drone technology and manufacturing of ammunition, etc., has been maintaining regular contact with Anil Kumar regarding an official contract of Rs 500 Crore, awarded to SMPP for the supply of ammunition to MIL over a period of one year," the FIR alleged.
The agency alleged that Kumar had been routing and parking much of the illicit proceeds through his wife, his brother, and other relatives to conceal them.
The wife and brother are accused of abetting the offence by helping hide and retain the money, it added. PTI ABS VN
