New Delhi, June 11: VRS Natarajan, who is the head of the government-run defence unit BEML, has been suspended, based on a recommendation by the CBI.
Mr Natarajan has recently spawned a series of controversies. BEML supplies what are known as Tatra trucks to the Army. The CBI is investigating whether the defence public sector unit violated guidelines in buying and supplying the trucks to the Army. Last week, the Defence Ministry asked Mr Natarajan to explain why he had publically declared that he would sue the former Army Chief General VK Singh for defamation. The government said it had not authorised him to make the remark. Before retiring in May, the General had said that he had been offered a bribe of 14 crores to clear sub-standard Tatra trucks for the Army. Mr Natarajan said the General's assessment of the trucks was incorrect and defamatory.
Mr Natarajan has also been pulled up by the Company Law Board in Chennai, which suggested that he had tried to suppress documents that would have revealed mismanagement and misuse of funds by a joint venture set up by BEML to explore opportunities in the mining sector. The legal cell of the Criminal Investigations Department in Hyderabad has also recommended that Mr Natarajan be prosecuted for cheating, criminal breach of trust, and falsification of accounts in the same joint venture case.
In April this year, the CBI raided and interrogated Mr Natarajan in Bangalore for alleged irregularities in hiring a consultancy firm for BEML.
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