The Central Bureau of Investigation has booked the then Chief General Manager (Finance) of the National Hydroelectric Power Corporation Limited (NHPC) and two others on graft charge.
The accused official has been identified as Harjeet Singh Puri, who was posted with the NHPC's Corporate office in Faridabad (Haryana). The other two accused are Gammon Engineers and Contractors Private Limited (Mumbai) and its official named Keshav Babu Shanbag.
The private company had completed two projects of civil and hydro mechanical works of NHPC, Parbati II and Parbati III) at Kullu in Himachal Pradesh. In 2020, arbitration award payments of these projects to the tune of ₹164.72 crore for Parbati II and ₹20.64 crore for Parbati III were pending with the NHPC Corporate Office for transfer to the company’s escrow accounts.
Keshav Babu Shanbag was the authorised signatory on the company's behalf. It is alleged that Mr. Puri demanded ₹15 lakh from him for expediting the process and not raising any objection in the disbursement of the two award payments.
It is alleged that from October 2020 to December 2020, ₹10 lakh was delivered at Mr. Puri’s residence through one Samuel Selvamani. Over ₹10 lakh was later deposited in the bank account of Mr. Puri's wife, the agency found.
