CBI Probes ₹800 Crore Dredging Scam: JNPA Official, Tata Consulting Engineers And Contractors Accused Of Fraud

Mumbai: The probe into the case registered by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) into the loss of Rs 800 crores to Jawaharlal Nehru Port Authority (JNPA) has revealed that M/s Boskalis Smit India LLP, Mumbai, had used a less accurate software of theirs, instead of worldwide accepted software viz. 'HYPACK' for quantifying the dredging quantity in Phase - ll which resulted in wrongful loss of Rs 348 crores which is a part of the larger Rs 800 crore scam. The JNPT was renamed as the Jawaharlal Nehru Port Authority (JNPA) in 2021.

The CBI has registered a case against Sunil Kumar Madabhavi, the then chief manager, JNPT, Devdutt Bose, project director, M/s TCE, M/s Tata Consulting Engineers, Mumbai, M/s Boskalis Smit India LLP, Mumbai, M/s Jan De Nul Dredging India Pvt. Ltd., Chennai and unknown others on the allegation of criminal conspiracy hatched amongst JNPA officials and private persons/entities, which caused a loss of over Rs 800 crores to JNPA in contracts awarded to a consortium of Mumbai- based private company and a Chennai- based private company under a Capital Dredging Project for increasing the depth of navigational channel to facilitate the entry of vessels to Jawaharlal Nehru Port, Nhava Sheva, Mumbai. The Tata Consulting Engineers (TCE) acted as project management consultants for JNPA.

Following the registration of the offence, searches were conducted at residential premises of officers of JNPA and TCE and offices of accused private companies at five places in Mumbai and Chennai which led to the recovery of a number of documents relating to project, digital devices and documents showing investments made by public servants.

According to the CBI, it was alleged that during 2003 - 2019, during the maintenance of dredged channels in Phase-I of the project, JNPA made excess payments aggregating to Rs 365.90 crores to the contractors against claims raised for over dredging of channels.

However, in Phase-II of the project, which overlapped with the maintenance period of Phase-I, JNPT made an additional excess payment of Rs 438 crores to the contractor, showing that no over dredging was done in Phase-I or the maintenance period. t

A case was registered by the CBI on June 18, following a preliminary alleging complicity between port officials of JNPT and the private companies involved, leading to preparation of inflated estimates, restriction of competition in order to favour international bidders, extension of undue favour to contractor and suppression of reports of independent experts/organizations.

The allegations of pecuniary advantage obtained by the private companies as a result of abuse of official position by the JNPT officials resulting into a huge wrongful loss to the exchequer, spread over the period from 2003 to 2014 (phase-l of the project) and 2013 to 2019 (phase-ll of project) was also enquired, officials said.

"JNPA officials, in connivance with the accused persons have also made an excess payment of Rs 430 crores to the contractor for over dredging made in Phase-II. The probe has revealed that M/s Boskalis Smit India LLP, Mumbai, had used a less accurate software of theirs, instead of worldwide accepted software viz. 'HYPACK' for quantifying the dredging quantity in Phase - ll which resulted in wrongful loss of Rs. 348 crores. The usage of the software was allowed on the basis of a note put up by Devdutt Bose, a Project Director for M/s TCE," stated the CBI.