FIR lodged against GVK group chairman GVK Reddy and MIAL MD Sanjay Reddy for undue profits of Rs 5,800 crore
A case of alleged cheating and forgery has been registered against joint secretary – civil aviation, Alok Sinha, GVK group chairman GVK Reddy and MD of Mumbai Airports Authority Ltd (MIAL) Sanjay Reddy, after a petitioner complained of undue profits made by the private bodies to the tune of Rs5,000 crore during the Mumbai airport modernisation, which was revealed in a CAG report in December.
The petitioner, Vishwas Bhamburkar, an RTI activist, has also filed a case against four police officers for failure to register an FIR earlier. Bhamburkar had approached the airport police in December after the CAG report was released. However, the cops refused to register an FIR, he went to the court.
Based on the Andheri metropolitan magistrate court’s order, the FIR was registered by the airport police under section 156 of the CrPC. A case has also been registered against PI Vijay Sathe, senior PI Rajendra Nagbhirey, ACP Madhukar Sankhe and the then DCP Namdeo Chavan.
Shedding light on the CAG report and his application, Bhamburkar said, “The report alleges that the ministry did not take any action against MIAL despite the delay in the completion of the project by 3 years. The delay escalated the project cost by over Rs5,000 crore. The private parties earned undue benefit to the tune of around Rs5,880 crore. I approached the police with this report as well as information I got through my RTI application.”
Sankhe, said, “We have received the order from the court. Investigations will be conducted against the four accused.” Three separate FIRs have been filed which name Sinha (the then chairman of the AAI), the GVK group chairman and the MD of MIAL. Them, along with the policemen have been charged with cheating, forgery, conspiracy and criminal misconduct by public servants under the Prevention of Corruption Act under the first FIR.
The other two FIRs have named the policemen for criminal misconduct and conniving with the accused to shield them. A spokesperson from MIAL, reacting to the FIR, said, “Once we know the contents of the complaint, we will respond accordingly.”
Read full article: DNA India