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Scientist, journalist among 11 arrested for suspected terror plot

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Published: Friday, Aug 31, 2012, 8:52 IST
By DNA Correspondent | Place: Bangalore | Agency: DNA

The Central Crime Branch police have busted a terror plot and arrested 11 members with alleged links with Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT) and Harkat-ul-Jihad-al-Islami (Huji). The arrested include a scientist from the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) and a journalist of a leading English daily – both from Bangalore – who along with the others arrested were preparing to eliminate political leaders and journalists at the behest of their handlers from Saudi Arabia.

Of the 11 arrested, six are Bangalore and five from Hubli, operating from two separate modules – the Hubli one to target politicians and the Bangalore one to target journalists.
City police commissioner BG Jyotiprakash Mirji said the two terror modules were busted after monitoring their movements over the past three months.

Preliminary investigations revealed that these were terror modules with international links and the police now suspect that several such modules may be existing in Karnataka and other parts of the country. This is now being investigated and the police expect several leads to emerge on interrogating the 11.

Mirji said in separate operations a team of police on Wednesday picked up Shoib Ahmed Mirza alias Chotu, a charted accountant aged 25 and his brother Ajaz Ahmed Mirza, 25, who worked as junior research scientist in DRDO, Abdulla alias Abdul Hakim Jamadaar, 25, Mohammed Yusuf Nalband, 28, Riyaz Ahmed Byahatti, 28 and Mati-ur-Rahman Siddiqui (journalist), 26. All were residing in a rented house in Munireddypalya in the RT Nagar area of Bangalore.

The police confiscated laptops, mobiles and a foreign-made 7.65 mm pistol with seven live cartridges from them.

An official involved in the investigations said accused Shoib alias Chotu, was trained in Pakistan by the LeT. The accused had also planned a terror attack in the IT city at the time of Ganesh Festival and they have already stolen and purchased a few bikes and four-wheelers for their operations.

This group was planning to eliminate a columnist of a Kannada newspaper and the editor-in-chief of the same newspaper (both residing in Bangalore) and had even conducted several reconnaissance and surveillance operations on their movements.
The Bangalore module members had allegedly also stolen a few vehicles to carry out their reconnaissance and surveillance of their targets and were caught in the nick of time, sources in the department said.

Meanwhile, another team of CCB officials nabbed members of the Hubli terror module who were shadowing politicians. The five arrested in Hubli have been identified as Obedulla Imran Bahadur alias Sameer alias Imran, 24, Mohammed Sadiq Lakshkar alias Raju, 28, Waahid Hussain alias Saahil, 26, Baba alias Mehaboob, 26, and Dr Jaffar Iqbal Sholapur, 27. Unlike their counterparts in Bangalore, the Hubli terror module members were picked up from various locations in Hubli.

Mirji said the arrests were the culmination of a three-month-long operation of the CCB which monitored the movement of the members of both the terror modules closely and picked them to avert averting a major terror attack.

The accused have been booked under 120 B , 153 B, 307, 379 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and under Unlawful Assembly And Arms Act, Mirji said, adding that a case has been booked against all the 11 members in Basaveshwaranagar police station in Bangalore.

“Although we have been unable to establish their involvement in previous terror attacks, we are investigating to ascertain their role in circulating hate SMSes/MMSes which triggered the exodus of people from the northeast in the city,” Mirji said.

He said the police, on a tip-off, began collecting details about the accused persons and arrested them before they could launch their attack. “Preliminary investigations have revealed that the accused are members of international terrorist outfits and they have spread their links in Karnataka and other states,” he said.

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Bangalore: Family of terror suspect opposes arrest

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IBN Karnataka | Posted on Aug 31, 2012 at 08:25am IST

Bangalore: The father of one of the 11 men arrested by the Bangalore Police on Wednesday on charges of having links with terror groups Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT) and the HuJI and plotting attacks on MPs, MLAs and journalists, has said that the family wasn’t informed his arrest. The man worked as an engineer at the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO).

“We didn’t get any message of his arrest. The police did not give any information about his whereabouts. My elder son works at the DRDO. His name his Ajaz,” said AM Mirza.
The Bangalore Police on Wednesday arrested 11 people, including a journalist with a popular English daily, for suspected terror links. Sources said the arrests were made as the eleven were planning to kill a prominent columnist with a Kannada newspaper, who had written an anti-Islam article, said Karnataka DGP Lalrokhuma Pachau.
Addressing a press conference, Commissioner of Police, Bangalore, JP Mirji said a foreign-made pistol and other incriminating evidence were recovered from them.
Mirji added that those arrested have links with Saudi Arabia-based LeT and HuJI and it is suspected that they have more supporters in other states. “Targeting individuals could have created communal tension,” he said.
Mirji said more details could not be revealed at the time as investigations were still on.
Sources say that the Uttar Pradesh Police provided their Bangalore counterparts the intelligence about the terror group, which has links with Indian Mujahideen. Sources add that the questioning of those arrested is on.
At least three of the arrests were made in Hubli in north Karnataka.
Meanwhile, four suspected Indian Mujahideen activists involved in the 2010 Chinnaswamy Stadium blast case were detained in Bangalore on Thursday for questioning, police said.
Fifteen people were injured when two bombs exploded at the Chinnaswamy Stadium on April 18, 2010 on the eve of the Bangalore-Mumbai IPL semifinal match.
Speaking to reporters in Bangalore, Director General of Police Lalrokhuma Pachau said backgrounds of those picked up was being checked.

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DRDO staffer, 10 others arrested for terror links in Bangalore

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 TNN | Aug 31, 2012, 05.02AM IST

BANGALORE: An employee of a DRDO division and a journalist were among 11 men, all in their twenties, arrested by Karnataka police for alleged links with global terror outfits. A day after an operation to nab these men ended on Wednesday, police said they had been told the group had plans to assassinate MPs and MLAs from the state, a businessman and two journalists from Bangalore.

Six of them were picked up from Bangalore on Wednesday morning, hours after the others were arrested in Hubli. Police said all had links with Lashkar-e-Taiba and Harkat-ul-Jihadal-Islami. Ejaz Mohammed Mirza, one of the men arrested, works for Airborne Early Warning and Control System, a DRDO division, sources in central intelligence and state home ministry said. An imported 7.65 mm revolver, seven bullets, computers, hard disks, mobile phones and religious tracts were recovered from the men, state police chief Lalrokhuma Pachau told reporters on Thursday.

Those arrested in Bangalore are Muthi-ur-Rahman Siddiqui, 26; Shoaib Ahmed Mirza alias Chhotu, 25; Abdullah alias Abdul Hakim Jamadar, 25; Ejaz Mohammed Mirza, 25; Mohammed Yusuf Nalbandh, 28; and Riyaz Ahmed Byahatti, 28.

Bangalore City Crime Branch (CCB) officials had kept their visit so secret that even local police had no information about it. A six-member BCCB team headed by police inspectors NB Sakri and Anand Kabbure arrived in Hubli on Sunday morning in a private vehicle. The team brought with them a computer analyst, videographer, photographer and technical experts.

They stayed at a lodge close to the old bus terminus and chalked out a plan to trail and arrest the youths. The team had information about their alleged links with terrorist organizations. Before picking up the accused, the CCB officials reportedly travelled through the city on motorbikes and monitored the movements of the suspects. They also verified registers of all local hotels to find out whether any suspects were lodged there.

After confirming the fact that all the suspects were staying in their houses in Hubli, the team began to execute its plan. Around 9am Wednesday, the BCCB team members raided the houses of all the suspects and took them into custody. The operation was over in just 30 minutes. Around 11am, the team left for Bangalore with the youths. “Five officials in civil clothes came home when my wife, daughter and daughterin-law were there. They asked for Jaffer,who was sleeping in his room. They asked my wife whether our son is a drug addict. They have left after seizing his laptop and cell phone. They haven’t said why they were picking up my son,” said Shaikh Rafeeq Ahmad, father of Jaffer Iqbal Sholapur, one of the accused.

Local police came to know of the detainment when the family members of the youths visited the local police stations in Keshwapur and Old Hubli, seeking clarifications. Hubli-Dharwad police commissioner BA Padmanayan said: “We are not aware of the arrest of the youths. The operation was carried out by CCB.”

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DRDO should focus on areas where it has capacity to deliver: Manmohan

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DRDO should focus on areas where it has capacity to deliver: Manmohan
TNN Aug 1, 2012, 02.00AM IST

NEW DELHI: With India still importing well over 60% of its military hardware and software, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Tuesday asked DRDO to concentrate on key strategic and military technology areas to ensure weapon systems are developed without huge time and cost overruns.

In the backdrop of crucial projects like the Tejas light combat aircraft running way behind schedule, the PM said, “The share of the indigenous content in defence procurement continues to be low. We need to take a hard look at the pipeline of our projects and focus our time and material resources on selected areas where we have demonstrated capacity to deliver projects within reasonable time and cost.”
Holding there was “a net deterioration in international strategic and security environment”, “political uncertainties in our neighbourhood”, turmoil in West Asia and ever-growing terrorism and cyber threats, the PM said the armed forces would be provided the “wherewithal” to secure “our frontiers”.

This will, in the long term, help India to build a robust domestic defence industrial base, in both the public and private sectors, to compete with global players in developing state-of-the-art technologies.

“We need to give the industry a boost and quicken the pace of development. The role of DRDO is this is truly critical, given that there are 800 enterprises supporting its projects and programmes,” he said.

Readers’ opinions (15)

sd (delhi) 27 days ago
first of all manmohan singh should look for indian industry which is shutting down day by day . indian industries keep on labeling chinese products due to low pricing in china & poor facilities given to industrialist like electricity etc. number of forms are there to fill at the time of dispatches, waste of time & paper. they should implement gst to get rid of various taxes

ADM (Bangalore)3 Followers 27 days ago Silver: 1463323
DRDO is a public sector failure and MMS is a public elect failure……

Baba (Delhi) 27 days ago
Bio-toilets of DRDO is only required for using in extreme cold areas where temperature is sub-zero and some what beneficial in trains…… but in plains in normal temperatures in villages it works just like any normal toilet with under ground septic tank… only difference is they use more costly metal septic tank …. and even they add some bacteria in to the tanks…. it is essential as faecal matter degradation occurs naturally…….. It is only helpful earning of crores of rupies for DRDO ToT holders and gain some media hype for DRDO people by fooling the rural development minister. with the cost of one so called Bio-toilet 4 toilets can me constructed in villages that too with using local available resources and emplying local unemplyed people. Using fasionable words”Bio-Toilets” they r fooling common man of the country… and the ministers as well…….

Pram (Mumbai) 28 days ago
In which area MMS has capacity to deliver?

Sopan Thengadi (Riyadh, Saudi Arabia) 5 Followers 28 days ago Silver: 3566434
The ‘delivery capacity’ of DRDO and other PSUs are well known. Tejas, Mig 21, LCH projecet, MBT Arjun, Air India – the list of underperformers is unending !!!
sinha.asok (Patna) 57 Followers 28 days ago Gold: 5587432
In a country all limelight is hogged by the politicians and bureaucrats and scientists are not even recognised for their contributions, it is too much to expect much from them. MMS should, first of all, start delivering on the social and economic fronts to prepare a conducive environment to face deteriorating security situation on the international stage.

pk (delhi) 28 days ago
Manmohan singh better focus on some economic strategies for country, rather than blaming DRDO

pr (bengaluru) 28 days ago
Once upon a time a cat mewed and dozed off again when the entire country plunged into darkness

Sudhir (IND) 57 Followers 28 days ago Gold: 10.5K542
Manmohan Singh is the most corrupt PM, Hindustan as ever seen. He as given Secular Congress members licences to loot the public.

hihari (Canada) 21 Followers 28 days ago Silver: 4534432
Sach bola MMS. DRDO has been putting its foot everywhere to have budget worth billions of dollars, but has delivered not even 50% of major projects! MMS bolts sach hai par karta kuch nahi hai, kya Karen iska!

Kartun Mhd with bomb (Kangress hate camp) 28 days ago Gold: 5022441
Manmohan should relax, because he does not have capacity to focus anywhere, except on Sonia’s instructions.

Air Cmde Raghubir Singh(Retd) (Pune) 28 days ago
Yes of course ideally DRDO should be concentrating on key military technologies to deliver without time & cost over runs-but how? If we have lagged behind in Tejas, option is not to get out of the aircraft development & concentrate on say making guns –we have to catch up with aviation technology too. Developing appropriate technologies should be national mission. For example we have been manufacturing MiG’s in our Hindustan Aeronautics for the last 50 years or so. Has the joint program between Russia & India lead us to any worthwhile aviation technology which could have been useful in our LCA or was it merely CKD’s riveted and nut-bolted in our complexes here –the Tatra way all the time? MoD must take a hard look of technology content in such joint ventures & also cost of locally assembled aircraft being comparable to the fly away imports. Now that DRDO has achieved breakthrough and much needed successes in quick successions in missiles & other areas, it must continue the dream run by change of leadership in labs which have been lagging behind. It may even think of getting service officers on deputation to man critical programs

Suraj Vanch (Wlltn) 28 days ago
the poodle barks

Dom pereira (Florida) 28 days ago
until and unless India allows the private sector to take part in defense manufacture in a big way India will never be able to be self sufficient in defense production. Private companies have the capacity to follow strict time frame which is very crucial to bring the cost down. In the U.S private firms run most defense companies and the results are for all to see.

dasg (ny) 28 days ago
PM Singh also ask this question to himself, has he capacity to deliver on much needed economic reforms on coal, power, labour and much else. It is easy to point to failures by others. He has failed miserably and hapless public is paying a heavy price for his incompetence in building consensus and pushing through much need economic reforms

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Prithvi II tested successfully

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TNN | Aug 26, 2012, 01.07AM IST

HYDERABAD: The 350-km range surface-to-surface Prithvi II missile was successfully flight tested at the Integrated Test Range, Chandipur, Balasore district in Odisha on Saturday giving the Strategic Forces Command (SFC) the Prithvi power.

“It was a text-book launch with very high accuracy. With this test launch, we can say that the SFC has demonstrated its expertise in firing the missile,” DRDO director general and scientific advisor to defence minister, V K Saraswat, told STOIon phone from Balasore.

Saraswat said the missile had an accuracy of better than 10 metersand this showed the standard of the missile. The single stage liquid propelled vehicle developed by DRDO was inducted into the armed forces and one of the missiles drawn from the inventory of the armed forces was test-fired by the SFC on Saturday. The vehicle is guided all through by an accurate Inertial Navigation System (INS) and controlled by the Thrust Vector Control and Aero-Dynamic Control Systems.

The missile developed by DRDO was flight tested from Launch Complex III by the SFC as part of its training exercise. The indigenous missile hit the target in the Bay of Bengal which was witnessed by a naval shiplocated near the target.

According to DRDO officials, all the radars, electro optical systems located along the coast tracked and monitored all the parameters of the missile throughout the flight path. The entire launch operation was carried out by the armed forces and monitored by scientists of DRDO.

Prithvi II has been successfully flight tested a number of times as part of development, induction and training exercises. Saturday’s launch, however, tested the Areliability of Prithvi and confirmed the successful induction into the services, a DRDO official said.

The team of armed forces and scientists were led by project director Siva Subramanyam and programme director Adalat Ali, director, DRDL, Hyderabad.

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DRDO’s Nag missile fails in user trials

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New Delhi: The long-delayed Nag anti-tank missile project of the DRDO has suffered yet another setback as its user trials held recently failed.

In the trials held in Rajasthan in presence of senior Lt Gen-rank officers from the Army and top DRDO officials, the modified carrier of the missile called NAMICA also under-performed, DRDO sources told a news agency here.

In the trials held at the Mahajan firing range, four Nag missiles were fired of which only one could hit the target whereas the remaining failed to do so due to glitches in the equipment on-board the weapon, they said.

Army officials present at the test-firings were not happy with the performance of the missile and have asked the defence research agency to come better prepared for the trials to be held in the future, they said.

The missile has been under development as part of the Integrated Guided Missile Development Program (IGMDP) initiated in early 1980s and is now expected to take few more years to reach the induction stage.

Sources said the carrier of the Nag missile called NAMICA — a modified Russian-origin BMP-II personnel carrier, also failed to satisfy the users in displaying its capabilities in water during the trials.

However, the NAMICA met the requirements of the user in terms of its cross-country capabilities, they said.

When contacted for his reaction, DRDO spokesperson Ravi Gupta said the trials were a “partial success”.

“The Advanced Target Acquisition systems with both the Gunner and Commander have performed well,” he claimed.

The spokesperson said these trials have “brought out certain deviations in the engine performance of the NAMICA BMP-II and those were being assessed by the experts.”

So far, DRDO has carried out more than 50 test-launches of the missile since it started its development in the 80s.

The DRDO is also working on developing the helicopter-launched Nag missile called the HELINA and its trials are also expected to be held soon.

The Indian Army has been awaiting the induction of the Nag missile for a long time now. In absence of any indigenous system, it uses the French-origin Milan anti-tank missiles and is also in negotiations with the US for procuring a significant number of Javelin anti-tank guided missiles.

PTI

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DRDO spending crores, but no positive outcome

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http://bit.ly/TymtzY 

http://ibnlive.in.com/news/drdo-spending-crores-but-no-positive-outcome/282007-3.html

Bhupendra Chaubey, CNN-IBN

New Delhi: The Defence Research and Development organisation, country’s premier body for development of defence related technology, has allegedly spent crores of rupees in the name of expenditure on technology, but there has been no positive outcome.
A top secret audit of DRDO ordered by Defence Minister AK Antony has revealed that there is virtual lack of transparency in decision making mechanism in the organisation, which was created to look after country’s defence needs. With a budget of over Rs 10,000 crore DRDO has enjoyed full mandate from successive governments for over six decades.
The audit accessed by CNN-IBN reveals that financial sanctions are being split so that they don’t have to go to higher authorities. Programme for development of main battle tank Arjun was sanctioned at Rs 69.99 crore. However, the entire programme was split into smaller sub-heads so that higher ups within the system could be avoided.
The fact that projects under DRDO have been delayed extensively is well known. Now the report also raises questions about how the DRDO is taking decisions.
Product support and product improvement of NAG weapon system was sanctioned at a cost of Rs 28.35 crore, despite the fact that the Cabinet Committee on Security approved similar programme was still in the pipeline.
The cost of UAV and aerostat was brought down just to ensure that no higher authority could question the financial approval given.
Several split sanctions were also issued for renovation of DRDO Bhawan while unauthorised sanction of Rs 49.15 crore to develop vehicle testing facility from public accounts mainly for civilian use was also granted.
The report further says that a project for development of satellite signal monitoring was sanctioned at a cost of Rs 29.96 crore without any formal requirement from the defence services. While the project was still on, a sanction of Rs 24.5 crore was given for procurement of a similar technology.
There have been several arbitrary costing of products under garb of development like sanction of Rs 14.5 crore for development of four stroke cylinder engine technology. But the parties chosen by the DRDO didn’t have adequate research capabilities. The report goes on to say that the DRDO has facilitated entry of foreign companies in certain areas and the projects being undertaken are not for development but for the entry of foreign vendors.
The report says that Dr VK Saraswat gave an improper approval for a grant of Rs 2.8 crore to a society which he heads himself. Further scrutiny even revealed that the body which got the aid didn’t have expert manpower.
Several irregularities have also been detected in appointment of chairpersons of different organisations with huge amounts being spent on it.
However, the defence minister has refused to react to these findings.
On the other hand the DRDO has refuted the allegations.
“DRDO strongly refutes observations made in the report and is in the process of compiling its responses despite the fact that the findings of audit already stand vitiated. Since laid down procedure was not followed and the report was issued without authorisation, the matter is under examination and correspondence with the concerned. All laid down procedures are being followed by DRDO in a transparent manner and interests of the State are the sole consideration during the process of decision making,” said DRDO Director Ravi Gupta.
Now through this report questions are being raised about how DRDO is taking decisions.

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Secret audit reveals DRDO irregularities

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Secret audit reveals DRDO irregularities

TNN Aug 14, 2012, 03.14AM IST

NEW DELHI: A confidential internal audit ordered by the defence ministry has found several financial and other irregularities in the functioning of the Defence Research and Development Organization (DRDO), which has a network of 50 labs and an annual budget of over Rs 10,500 crore.

 

This comes a day after TOI reported that none of the main recommendations — first by the Rama Rao Committee in 2008 and then a watered-down version by a committee headed by the defence secretary in 2010 — has been implemented to revamp DRDO to ensure that advanced weapon systems are developed for the armed forces without huge time and cost overruns.

The fresh internal audit, conducted by the finance wing of the defence ministry, has raised serious questions about the lack of transparency in DRDO’s functioning, including the alleged sanctioning of Rs 2.80 crore by DRDO chief V K Saraswat to a mathematical society headed by him.

 

DRDO spokesman Ravi Gupta, on being contacted, said the issues raised in the report were “essentially in the nature of preliminary observations” and the audit itself was “vitiated by a faulty process”. “None of the points raised in the audit report stands scrutiny… We are giving a point-wise rebuttal to the baseless conclusions,” he said.

 

The audit report also pointed out that DRDO was splitting sanctions for its projects to avoid seeking approvals from “competent financial authorities”.

Readers comments

Polachan Vm (Egypt)

8 days ago

….if all the black money and the corrupt money is confiscated, we can buy USA three times. ..luckily our leaders and judges are thieves..wishing all poor Indians a very happy Independance day…  9249850342 ..former thief justice..

myalmightygod (India)

9 days ago

God bless india.

Raghubir Singh (Pune)

9 days ago

Internal audit is one of the healthy procedures to have financial checks and balances in place and every government department has such auditing as a matter of routine even in ops units in forward areas. There is nothing secret about it. As a first step there are preliminary observations-majority of which get settled after the explanations are given at working level showing relevant file/documents/authority etc. We can delve on two point’s including MBT Arjun being overweight which has also found mention in the preliminary observation. Best MBT’s of the world like US’s Abram, UK’s Challenger, Germany’s Leopard & Isarel’s Merkava having crew of four all weigh in the region of 62-65 tons as compared to 58 tons that of Arjun with four crew which is great feat in weight management! MBT Arjun has withstood enough flak for decades & proven its merit in the desert trials pitted against blue eyed T-90. But eventually DRDO would have to develop newer third generation tank as China has done. Splitting the sanctions is generally to win race against time for projects which otherwise would get stuck up in red tapes -for which there should be red carpets to roll on smoothly? Splitting by remaining within limit is permissible and let us not grudge this financial authority bestowed on authorities like Directors.

spot on (Paris) 9 days ago

DRDO Chief V K Saraswat was first one to vouch for the Tetra Trucks performance and suitability when former Army gen VK Singh blew the scam in the open. Once scam thickened and stink ed too much, this guy faded in the air. CBI and media doing good work for the khangress family. My friend worked for many year for DRDO and he told me that most of the project engineers outsource work to companies formed by their own family members. Please probe middle management too to show the rot.

dasg (NY) replies to spot on 8 days ago

No wonder the morons continue to buy 70% of the weapons, unmatched by any nation with even 50 million let alone 1200 million. VK Singh remarks must have sent shiver down this crook Saraswat’s spine. But nothing will happen, whole edifice is rotten, and as a result honest people like VK Singh are cast as vilians and crooks like Saraswat are applauded.

dasg (NY) 9 days ago

Ha ha ha Mathematical Society! Good one. Corruption thy name is Indian. But then he is thinking if Sonia, Kamadi, Kanimozi, Raja, Laloo, Pawar and almost everyone why not me. ISRO Nair too made enough. The whole edifice has become rotten to the core.

Mohan (London) replies to dasg 8 days ago

I will like to share my personal experience about DRDO. I have an international reputed Masters in science from one of top European university.I studied from top 10 Indian engineering college. I am working abroad in a research lab, applied for a job @DRDO; they didn’t even select me. While most of the scientists who work in DRDO are below average, lack any capability to produce anything substantial, they wont choose NRI candidates as they believe in corruption. Dumb engineers and scientists want to maintain their status quo without delivering any result!!

bg (hyd) replies to Mohan 6 days ago

“yet another these are sour grapes story”

dasg replies to Mohan 7 days ago

Well Indian or for that matter local recruitment is based solely on your abilities, in India foremost your contacts. That is 1200million people, have not single University among top 100 let alone top ten in the world. They are now being beaten black and blue by China. You have dull people and lazy people, dull people vote along caste/parochial line people like Laloo, Maya, Mulayam, Kuruanidhi, Raja who support crooks like Sonia, Rahul. So its is dullness of mind that they adhere to divisive, highly detrimental and dangerous casteism. Lazy people are middle class who cant up their fat backside to participate in the electoral process even to the extent of casting vote.

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DNA special: MoD audit questions DRDO functioning

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DNA special: MoD audit questions DRDO functioning

Published: Wednesday, Aug 15, 2012, 10:00 IST

By Pradip R Sagar | Place: New Delhi | Agency: DNA

Years after the CAG tore into DRDO and its functioning, a special audit has once again exposed the organisation and its chief, VK Saraswat, blaming him for passing on funds to a society in a clear case of conflict of interest.

The audit, conducted on the orders of defence minister AK Antony, has come down on the ‘arbitrary’ functioning of the DRDO (Defence Research and Development Organisation).

The audit has highlighted questionable approval by scientific advisor to defence minister, Saraswat, of grant- in-aid of Rs2.9 crore to an academic institution he heads.

According to the report, accessed by the DNA, Saraswat sanctioned a grant of Rs2.88 crore to Hyderabad-based Advanced Institute of Mathematics, Statistics and Computer Science (AIMCS) for research of futuristic radar systems.

Raising infirmities in the sanction, the audit report says, “AIMCS comprises scientists known for their achievement in mathematics, statistics and computer sciences and is not even generally connected with research relating to futuristic radars. And it (AIMCS) does not have any equipment and other wherewithal to undertake such research and development.”

The report says DRDO’s Bangalore-based LRDE (Electronics and Radar Development Establishment) is specifically meant for the evolution of the technologies relating to radars and has required number of scientists and equipment for conducting research of radars.

“It was thus strange to entrust this work to a Hyderabad-based academic institute. Further scrutiny has revealed as the grantee body did not have expert manpower, it started recruiting them after getting money from DRDO, which was liberally disbursed on annual basis.”

The report claims that release of advance payment to the society even for salary in respect of non-existent manpower blocks government funds and provides an opportunity to private society to earn ‘interest income’.

“DRDO is hiring a consultant and the consultant is also planning to hire consultants. This does not seem to be reasonable. Whether recruited personnel had DRDO connection needs to be seen further.”

The internal audit report prepared by senior additional controller general of defence account (ACGDA-Internal audit) maintained that DRDO has undertaken research project relating to radars and part of this research project was offloaded to a private society.

“As such it is only a sub-project of a main project. These facts were not however brought out in the file concerned.”

Interestingly, the report has also questioned another grant-in-aid of Rs3 crore to Dr SB Rao of the same institute, who is co-principal investigator under this radar research project. “A comparison of cost estimates between two projects suggested the possibility of different norms being adopted for costing and possible duplication.”

Comments

Raghubir Singh from Pune

Mathematics and statistics are much relevant like computers in radars as should be evident from some books on the subject. As such on the face of it Advanced Institute of Maths, Statistics & Computer Sciences (AIMCS) seems to have adequate credentials to carry out research in these areas relating to radar engineering? Generally research scholars are hired only after funding is available. For achieving self- reliance in defence , which should be our top priority now , it would be essential to encourage academic and other reputed institutions to take up research in areas which can have military applications. This is the model for defence research followed in other advanced countries including in the US which should suit us too? Now that DRDO is notching successive successes on daily basis–discomfiture of import lobby is understandable and this leakage of secret audit report hopefully is not to slow down the momentum?

Reply | Report abuse       Posted on: Aug 17, 2012 6:34 IST

Raghubir Singh from Pune

Mathematics and statistics are much relevant like computers in radars as should be evident from some books on the subject. As such on the face of it Advanced Institute of Maths, Statistics & Computer Sciences (AIMCS) seems to have adequate credentials to carry out research in these areas relating to radar engineering? Generally research scholars are hired after funding is available. For achieving self- reliance in defence , which should be our top priority now after revelations how the import lobby has tentacles everywhere including in our DPSU’s, it would be essential to encourage academic and other reputed institutions to take up research in areas which can have military applications. This is the model for defence research followed in other advanced countries including in the US which should suit us too? Now that DRDO is notching successive successes on daily basis–discomfiture of import lobby is understandable and this leakage of secret audit report is not to slow down the momentum-hopefully?

Reply | Report abuse       Posted on: Aug 16, 2012 8:47 IST

Raghubir Singh from Pune

It is not correct to say that there is no connection between mathematics, statistics and computer with radar. We can glance through ‘Mathematics of Radar’ by Bill Moran to feel some impact of mathematics on radars. In fact there are large number of books on mathematics of radar, synthetic aperture radar & tracking radar etc. Similarly probability of detection & statistics thereof do form important aspects of radar and need to be explored. Therefore AIMSC with its mathematics, statistics & computer credentials should be able to do research in these important areas relating to radar Futuristic radar or any other such system can see the light of the day only if we encourage academic or research institutions –not necessarily only govt labs to explore domains which have defence applications. To carry out, presumably theoretical work to begin with –the Institute would not need radar system which if required should be available in DRDO labs in Hyderabad? Research work is not production line –it needs new thinking, newer approaches and interfacing of academic, institutional and defence research work for military usage. The auditors & learned author can see

the research models in US & other countries. For sure research scholars for the project can be recruited only after funds are available

Drdo

Defence ministry report slams DRDO chief

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Defence ministry report slams DRDO chief

14 Aug 2012Hindustan Times (Bhopal)

NEW DELHI: Defence Research and Development Organisation chief VK Saraswat sanctioned R2.8 crore to a mathematical society headed by him, an audit report has revealed. The report prepared by the defence ministry’s finance wing has also dealt with issues of transparency and shortcomings in projects developed by the organisation.

Defence ministry audit questions DRDO functioning

New Delhi: An internal audit report ordered by the defence ministry raised questions over the functioning of the DRDO and the grant of Rs 2.8 crore by its chief VK Saraswat to a society under him.

The report prepared by the finance wing of the defence ministry raised several issues in its review and the transparency of the research agency with a budget of over Rs 5,000 crore, defence sources said in New Delhi.

The report has questioned the grant of Rs 2.8 crore by Saraswat to a mathematical society.

The report has also pointed out that to avoid seeking approvals from the competent financial authorities, the DRDO was splitting the sanctions for its projects, they said.

It has also cited shortcomings in the products developed by the DRDO such as the Arjun tank, which has been found to be overweight by the Army for operations in certain areas along the border.

However, the DRDO said the issues raised in the report “are essentially in the nature of preliminary observations” and it was “vitiated by a faulty audit process”.

“Such preliminary observations are required to be formally issued and replies to the same should be sought prior to compilation of any report. Only if the replies are not satisfactory is the next step of making a preliminary report taken.

“In the extant case, the laid down procedure was not followed and to that extent, the process of audit stands vitiated. Thus, even before seeking replies of DRDO, presumption and baseless conclusions appear to have been arrived at,” DRDO spokesperson Ravi Gupta said.

PTI

DRDO ‘develops’ blatant financial irregularities

Published: Friday, Aug 17, 2012, 9:00 IST

By Pradip R Sagar | Place: New Delhi | Agency: DNA

The ministry of defence’s special audit has found blatant irregularities in the Defence Research Development Organisation’s handling of finances.

The special audit report, accessed by the DNA, reveals that financial sanctions are being split so that they do not require approval of higher authorities.

The audit carried out by Comptroller General of Defence Audit on the direction of defence minister AK Antony has found that key projects costing over Rs300 crore were tweaked by the DRDO to get them sanctioned without approaching the concerned financial authorities.

“DRDO authorities have sometimes used delegated powers to sanction supposedly new projects to complete the work taken up under ongoing projects, instead of going to the concerned financial authority for revision of cost of the old projects,” the audit report claims.

For instance, programme for development of main battle tank Arjun was sanctioned at Rs69.99 crore in November 2010. But the DRDO authorities changed the entire programme and split it into smaller sub-heads and several procurements were sanctioned under ‘build-up’ so that higher authorities within the system could be avoided. This shows that a coordinated attempt to avoid going to higher financial authorities, which is contrary to financial regulations,” the auditors observed.

Similarly, despite having a comprehensive five-year programme sanctioned for human performance enhancement in May 2009 at a cost of Rs34.56 crore, the director of Defence Institute of Physiology & Allied Sciences (DIPAS-DRDO), has managed to get approval for additional projects over the already sanctioned project. Such practice defeats the very purpose of making projects/programmes,” the report added.

Another project called ‘Product support and product improvement of NAG weapon system’ was sanctioned at a cost of Rs28.35 crore by VK Saraswat, director general of DRDO, despite the fact that the Cabinet Committee on Security approved similar programme was still in the pipeline.

Audit report also pointed out an unjustified cost reduction by DG, DRDO for a project for design and development of electro-optical sensors for air-borne platforms (UAV and Aerostat) at a cost of Rs49.82 crore.

“Director General, DRDO has reduced the cost from Rs70 crore as proposed to Rs49.82 crore so as to bring it just under Rs50 crore, which is his sanctioning power,” the special audit report claims.

Under scrutiny of accounts, the audit also found anomalies in facility for elctro-optical system testing (FACET). “FACET was sanctioned at a cost of Rs35 crore by DG, DRDO to create a facility, which is essentially required to meet the objectives of an already sanctioned project,” the report added.

The audit report also observed several split sanctions were issued for renovation of DRDO Bhawan in New Delhi while an unauthorised sanction of Rs49.15 crore to develop vehicle testing facility in Pune from public accounts mainly for civilian use was granted by the DRDO authorities

Appeal to clean DRDO of corrupt and anti-national officials