MHA officer held in bulletproof jacket scam

The multi-crore bulletproof jacket procurement deal got murkier on Wednesday when the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) arrested a senior ministry of home affairs (MHA) official for granting undue favours to some suppliers.

The officer, RK Sharma, holding the rank of a director, was head of a special cell called Modernisation & Provisioning of Central Police Forces and was looking after allocation of weaponry to such paramilitary forces.

Preliminary investigations by the CBI revealed that over the time, the senior officer had developed contacts with certain private companies in the business of supplying security equipment like armoured panels, bulletproof jackets, helmets and shields. It was also found that the officer was regularly granting undue favours to several suppliers.

“The home ministry had floated a tender for procurement of 59,000 bulletproof jackets for central paramilitary forces in July 2009. The tender ran into trouble after allegations of manipulation and discriminatory trial of samples of private firms came to fore,” a senior CBI official said.

“This led to re-evaluation of tender and re-trial of bulletproof jacket samples. The officer leaked confidential information about tender and trial process to a competing firm. He demanded and accepted illegal gratification in lieu of services and favours shown to private firms,” the official added.

Searches are on in the residence of the accused and offices of the owners of the private firms, the sources said.