New Delhi, July 1 (IANS) The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) Friday registered a criminal case against eight people, including former director general of hydrocarbons (DGH) V.K. Sibal, for extending undue favours to a private company exploring for gas, an agency official said.
‘It is alleged that officials of DGH – the technical arm of the petroleum ministry regulating licences to private operators – had given undue favours to a private company in speculative seismic survey in lieu of personal favours obtained from representatives of the private company,’ the official said.
The case has been registered against seven DGH officials – then director general Sibal, then chief geologist D.K. Rawat, then advisor (geophysics) S.K. Jain, then head of accounts K.A. Murli, then advisor contracts Anurit Sahi, then manager (finance and accounts) T.S.L.N. Reddy, then chief chemist Savendra Gupta – and the private company, G X Technology’s manager exploration Sujata Subramaniam.
Due to limited resources with the government, these surveys are given to both domestic and foreign firms to explore and develop oil and gas fields in areas with potential hydrocarbon reserves, the official said.
According to the investigative agency, a contract was given to the company in 2005 for conducting a seismic speculative survey at an exorbitant cost, causing a loss of approximately Rs.400 crore to the government.
The investigative agency conducted raids at houses and offices of the accused in Delhi, Dehradun in Uttarakhand, Noida in Uttar Pradesh and Mumbai. Further searches were on.
‘We have recovered documents relating to immovable and movable property belonging to the accused and other incriminating documents,’ the official said.
