CBI books 4 navy officers, 14 others for defrauding Western Naval Command with fake bills

New Delhi: The CBI has booked four Navy officers and 14 others for allegedly generating fake bills of Rs 6.76 crore for supplying IT hardware to the Western Naval Command, officials said.

Captain Atul Kulkarni, Commanders Mandar Godbole and R P Sharma, and Petty Officer LOG (F&A) Kuldeep Singh Baghel allegedly prepared seven fraudulent bills of Rs 6.76 crore, they said Wednesday.

"All these accused naval officers abused their official position to defraud the naval authorities and rob the exchequer of public money which led to pecuniary gain to themselves," according to the CBI FIR.

The probe agency has also carried out searches in this connection, sources said.

The bills were allegedly raised between January and March in 2016 at the Western Naval Command in Mumbai for supplying information technology and networking related hardware.

"None of the items mentioned in the bills were supplied to HQ, WNC (Western Naval Command). No documents pertaining to preparation of the bills i.e. approvals, financial sanction, purchase orders, receipt vouchers, etc. are available at HQ," the CBI FIR said.

The agency has also booked four officials of the Controller of Defence Accounts, besides private companies Star Network, ACME Networks, Cyberspace Infovision and Moksh Infosys.