http://www.thesundayindian.com/en/story/Dredging-scam-CBI-raids-Ezhimla-Naval-Academy/254/30515/
The CBI on Thursday, conducted searches at the Indian Naval Academy (NAVAC or INA) in Ezhimala, Kannur and elsewhere following allegations of malpractices in connection with dredging and sale of sand on the academy campus. CBI has seized documents and materials from the academy during the search and registered a case against two including Commander Mukundan N. Rajeev.
Commander Mukundan N. Rajeev was in charge of construction. CBI also registered case against Singapore based NRI Ashraf Backer, who is the in charge of ASR Dredging India Ltd in Kochi.
Ashraf Backer‘s ASR Dredging company had the contract to deepen the boat training centre of the Waterman Ship Training Institute at the naval academy. The sand was to have been kept at the academy itself. CBI alleges that the sand was shifted from the campus and sold, breaching legal procedures and without tender. The contract for the dredging was allegedly awarded to the Singapore-headquartered ASR Dredging Services in 2009 by Commander Mukundan N Rajeev, incurring a loss of Rs 1.5 crore to the national exchequer.
The CBI had registered an FIR on Wednesday in the CBI court in Kochi, which allowed a search in the Academy and gave go-ahead- orders to the CBI sleuths in the case. The CBI also searched the Eastern Naval Command, Vishakhapatnam, where Commander Mukundan is serving now, after being transferred from the Ezhimala academy two months ago.
Mukundan's residence at Palakkad was also raided. Raids were also conducted in the offices and residences of Ashraf Backer. Initially, the Naval Academy officials were unwilling to cooperate with the investigation.
The Ezhimala Naval Academy was planned as a full-pledged permanent Naval Academy to replace the present Naval Academy, INS Mandovi at Goa. The foundation stone for the Academy was laid in January 17, 1987 by the then Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi. After 22 years, it was inaugurated by Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh in January 8, 2009. As a centre for training premier officers of the Indian Navy, Ezhimala Naval Academy is the largest Naval Academy in Asia.
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