Govt clears prosecution of former, serving naval officers in submarine corruption case

New Delhi:  The government has given the go-ahead to prosecute four serving and retired Navy officers in connection with alleged corruption in purchasing spare parts to retrofit Russian Kilo-class submarines, officials said.
The CBI had filed its chargesheets in November last year, within two months of initiating a probe into a corruption case, following which it had sought the government’s sanction to prosecute accused Navy officers Commander S J Singh (retired) and three serving commanders — Ajit Pandey, Abhishek Kumar Shar and Jagdeesh Chander, the officials said.
After more than a year, the government has finally given the sanction to prosecute the four accused figuring in the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) chargesheets, which means that the trial in the case is likely to begin soon, they added.
Section 19 of the Prevention of Corruption Act makes it mandatory for the CBI to get the government’s nod before initiating the prosecution of an accused, the officials said.
Also Read Maha: BJP MLA and Lokmanya Tilak’s kin Mukta S. Tilak dies at 57 The federal probe agency has already intimated to a special CBI court that it has the government’s go-ahead to prosecute the accused officials, they added.
The CBI had lodged the case on the basis of inputs received by it that some serving officers at the Western Headquarters of the Navy, working on retrofitting Russian Kilo-class submarines, were allegedly influenced by retired officers and receiving pecuniary benefits, the officials said.