Goods worth Rs 35 crore missing from factory

The Asian Age.

Metros, Kolkata

BHEL officials helped carry out the audit since they had the primary knowledge of the items supplied between 2009 and 2012.

Pawan Ruia

Kolkata: A joint team of Criminal Investigation Department (CID), Railways and North 24 Parganas district administration on Friday visited the Jessop factory in Dum Dum and found articles worth several crores missing from the premises.

The inspection came following orders by the Calcutta high court, which had recently instructed that a joint committee make an inventory and also seize equipment found in the factory and accordingly submit a report on December 19.

While special superintendent, CID, Subhankar Sinha remained tight-lipped about the visit, an administrative official said that “goods worth about Rs 35 crore may have gone missing from the premises”.

“Almost the entire electrical parts supplied by BHEL to produce AC rakes were found missing,” the source said. Officials from BHEL, which had supplied electrical raw materials to the company to complete orders placed by the railways, were also present during the inspection.

BHEL officials helped carry out the audit since they had the primary knowledge of the items supplied between 2009 and 2012.

Two days after Ruia Group chairman Pawan Kumar Ruia was arrested in a case of equipment belonging to the railways ministry going missing from his Jessop factory, the  high court had set up a three-member committee to inspect the factory and seize properties currently present on its premises.

Mr Ruia,who is the owner of Jessop, is presently in CID custody after he was arrested from Delhi last Friday and has allegedly played a key role in the removal of the stocks.

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