CBI registers prima facie case against NEEPCO officials

Shillong, Jan 21 (UNI) A prima facie case has been registered against top NEEPCO officials for allegedly entering into a conspiracy and fraudulently awarding of insurance contract of the corporation's Assam-based thermal plant to Bajaj Allianz, a CBI official said today.

The case has been registered against corporation's former Chairman-cum-Managing Director of North Eastern Electric Power Corporation(NEEPCO) S C Sharma, former executive director P K Deka, present GM (Finance) Venkatesh Waran and Director(Finance) M R Ghosh.

On Saturday, CBI sleuths carried out searches at the residence of NEEPCO officials in Delhi, Hyderabad, Kolkata, Guwahati and Shillong and seized documents, including financial transactions of the officers.

''In 2005, NEEPCO officials insured a safety insurance of Assam Gas based Power Plant at Bakuloni to the tune of Rs 3.5 crore with Bajaj Allianz through fraudulently means,'' the top CBI official told reporters here.

The CBI official said a case has also been registered against Bajaj Allianz Insurance Company, which entered into a contract with NEEPCO.

The Gas thermal-based plant is located at Bakuloni village in Dibrugarh district of Assam with a total installed capacity of 291 MW and was partly financed by Overseas Economic Cooperation Fund of Japan of 37.272 Billion Yen.

The power station, commissioned in 1995, comprises 6 Gas Turbines with associated Waste Heat Recovery Boilers and 3 Steam Turbines, arranged in a modular fashion. A module comprises of 2 Gas Turbines with associated Waste Heat Recovery Boilers and 1 steam turbine.

The beneficiary states of this project are Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland and Tripura.

''We are further examining into the matter and would lodge a formal case the corporate officials and the Insurance Company,'' the CBI official said.

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