CBI Books Two BHEL Officials Over 31.65 kg Silver Missing from Gurugram Plant

The Central Bureau of Investigation has registered a case over the alleged embezzlement of 31.65 kg of silver from Bharat Heavy Electricals Ltd's Amorphous Silicon Solar Cell Plant in Gurugram, naming two officials of the state-run company in its FIR.

The shortfall came to light during a physical verification carried out on February 6, 2024. Records showed that close to 35.6 kg of silver targets and recyclable silver, part of assets funded by the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy, had been held at the plant until 2016-17 and continued to appear in records and audit observations until 2020. The verification, however, found only 6.23 kg — 3.98 kg of silver targets and 2.25 kg of scrap — inside the Godrej safe, leaving about 31.65 kg unaccounted for. At prevailing rates, the missing metal is valued at roughly Rs 71 lakh.

The FIR, registered on July 8 on a complaint filed by a CBI sub-inspector, names Dr Bharat Kumar Pant, the plant's Additional General Manager and head, and Ashish Kumar, who was then manager and in-charge of the material management section and is now a manager at BHEL's corporate office in Delhi. The case has been filed under Indian Penal Code provisions dealing with criminal conspiracy, causing disappearance of evidence and criminal breach of trust by public servants, along with Section 13 of the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988, which covers criminal misconduct by a public servant.

The complaint also calls for the roles of three other people to be examined — Ajay Yadav, then manager for finance and human resources at the plant and now Joint General Manager (Finance) at Noida Metro Rail Corporation, and Vinayan Bhardwaj and Ajai Kumar, then manager and engineer respectively at the plant, both now posted at BHEL's corporate office in Delhi.

A preliminary inquiry concluded on February 26 found prima facie evidence of cognizable offences. According to the complaint, annual physical verification of the silver was carried out regularly until 2018 but stopped from 2019, when Pant took charge of the plant. Inventory verification reports and stock registers for crucial years were also found missing, and the complaint states that no proper system existed for recording the consumption, movement or custody of silver.

The inquiry found that the plant's internal control mechanism for the custody and verification of silver had been systematically weakened, allowing unauthorised access and the gradual removal of the metal over time without detection. Officials questioned during the inquiry gave contradictory statements on the physical verification, custody of the safe's keys, the existence of records and the opening of cartons and files, which the complaint says points to concealment and suppression of material facts.

The complaint notes that Ashish Kumar, Yadav, Bhardwaj and Ajai Kumar took part in a physical verification on March 31, 2022, when 35.6 kg of silver was found, after which the metal was placed in the custody of the plant's material management section. The four did not disclose this during their examination, it says. Ashish Kumar, Yadav and Bhardwaj also took part in the February 2024 verification, and despite knowing the earlier inventory figures, signed the report without objecting to the large shortfall, the complaint adds.

BHEL and Noida Metro Rail Corporation did not respond to emails seeking comment, and an email to Pant went unanswered.