Tag Archives: Deccan Herald

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Ex-DRDO technical officer’s son held for murdering scientist’s wife

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Bangalore, mar 11, 2014, DHNS : Deccan Herald
Financial gain motive; suspect ‘blackmailed’ victim with her fake suicide note
The son of a retired technical officer of the Defence Research and Development Organisation has been arrested on the charge of murdering the wife of a scientist for financial gain at the DRDO quarters in Baiyappanahalli here on Monday. The suspect had also “blackmailed” the victim with her fake suicide note.

Vijayan R, 33, was arrested from his Horamavu house about six hours after he allegedly slit the throat of Rajani Rajbala, 46, and snatched her gold chains, Police Commissioner Raghavendra Auradkar told reporters here on Tuesday.

Vijayan’s father was a technical officer at the Gas Turbine Research Establishment and the family lived in the DRDO quarters, Phase I, CV Raman Nagar, until his retirement. Since Rajbala and her husband Amrith Pakyadas also lived on the same campus, the suspect befriended the family which hails from Nagercoil, Tamil Nadu.
Huge loans

Vijayan, a school dropout who had been working with a non-profit organisation, was unable to repay the huge loans he had taken.

Even his debit-cum-credit card had been deactivated and he needed Rs 10,000 to reactivate it. An urgent need for money thus drew him to murder Rajbala, G B Manjunath, ACP (Ulsoor subdivision), told Deccan Herald. The suspect thought of “extorting” money from Rajbala.

He met her recently at her D-22 flat and claimed he was planning to make a documentary on the love story of a couple. But the female protagonist commits suicide following differences with her husband, Vijayan reportedly told Rajbala and coaxed her into believing that he needed a suicide letter in Tamil to be used in the documentary.

He then requested her to write the suicide letter as he does not know the language. Rajbala believed him, wrote the letter and gave it to him. Vijayan, however, started blackmailing her with the letter and even threatened to murder her if she did not give him money.

“He entered Rajbala’s house around 11 am. After a brief conversation, he demanded money but she refused. In a fit of rage, he then slit her throat twice with a knife in the bedroom.
Leaving her almost dead, he snatched the two gold chains on her person,” said Baiyyappanahalli Police Inspector K V Srinivas.

A neighbour rang the door bell just when Vijayan was allegedly slitting Rajbala’s throat. The suspect hurriedly pocketed the gold chains, jumped to the second floor from the balcony and fled.

Key, a dead give-away

He suffered a fracture in his leg and also injured his spine. While jumping down, he lost the key of his motorcycle which later gave away his identity. He managed to sneak out of the DRDO campus, hired an autorickshaw and reached his house, the police inspector added.

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Antony recommends CBI probe into DRDO recruitment scam

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Deccan Herald

New Delhi, Nov 17, 2013 (PTI):
Defence Minister A K Antony has recommended a CBI probe into an alleged recruitment scam in DRDO where several senior officers including two of its former chiefs are under the scanner.

The Defence Minister has recommended a CBI probe into the alleged recruitment scam in which two former DRDO chiefs and a former Chief Controller of the organisation are under scanner for allegedly giving jobs to their kins in alleged violation of rules and regulations, sources said here today.

The vigilance wing of the Defence Ministry had been investigating the alleged wrongdoings in recruitment in the premier defence research agency for over a year.

Recently, a Director-rank officer of the DRDO was under scanner for his alleged role in an appointment made against the laid down procedures and was suspended hours before his retirement from service in May.

The official, a senior scientist, was suspended by the department as an inquiry was pending against him in a recruitment-related case where he allegedly recruited his own daughter in the organisation.

The matter had come to light after the Central Vigilance Commission (CVC) recommended action against two DRDO officials for their alleged role in the case.

The official suspended was involved in promotion and selection of scientists in the organisation.

The CVC had also recommended review of the appointment of the scientist’s daughter who is now working in DRDO as a ‘Scientist C’.

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DRDO to take action against terror suspect researcher

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Deccan Herald

New Delhi, Aug 31, 2012, (IANS) :

Taken by surprise over the arrest of one of its researchers in Karnataka for links with Pakistan-based terror outfits, India’s defence research agency Friday announced that it was initiating disciplinary action against him under government rules.

Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) spokesperson Ravi Gupta said the youth, identified as Aijaz Ahmed Mirza, was only a junior researcher, which is a temporary position.

Mirza was not an employee, Gupta clarified.

“This has reference to reports in certain sections of media reporting the arrest of Aijaz Ahmed Mirza. In this regard, it is intimated that Mirza had been placed as Junior Research Fellow (JRF) for the past few months, at the Centre for Air Borne Systems (CABS), a DRDO laboratory,” he said.

Gupta also said that verification of Mirza’s antecedents as well as police verification was conducted in the process of his placement in the temporary position.

“He was not involved in any sensitive work and as such no sensitive/classified information has been compromised. Disciplinary action as per government of India rules is being taken,” he added.

Under the research fellowship scheme, DRDO offers opportunities to young scientists and engineers to work in its labs in the areas of basic research relevant to the laboratory.

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Deccan Herald | A costly intelligence asset of no use now

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Deccan Herald

A costly intelligence asset of no use now

Chandan Nandy, Bangalore, Mar 21, 2012, DHNS:

Rs 30-cr project scrapped after technical panel found flaws in encryption system

The use of Chinese processors in an encryption system for ground mobile satellite communication terminals for use by the National Technical Research Organisation (NTRO) was considered a breach of security for which the project was scrapped on the directions of the National Security Council (NSC).

Following strong objections by the NSC, the “Sampark” network was shot down and is not being used by the NTRO, leading to the loss of Rs 30 crore (including capital and recurring expenditure) that was spent on purchasing the asset.

The wasteful expenditure incurred as a result of non-use of the system has come under the scanner of the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) which is learnt to have classified it as among several other “suspect” NTRO acquisitions and procurements between 2007 and 2010. The CAG undertook a massive special audit of the NTRO after the head of the communications intelligence organisation blew with the whistle on several questionable procurements and other irregularities.

The audit findings have been submitted to the Supreme Court in a sealed envelope.

In late 2009, the NSC was apprised by the Scientific Analysis Group (SAG) within the Defence Research and Development Organisation that several ground mobile SATCOM terminals, which the NTRO had procured from the Bharat Electronics Limited (BEL) for positioning in various parts of the country for communication “during operations”, contained Chinese processors.

The sensitive issue came to the notice of the NSC when the Indian Air Force, which procured the same encryption system from BEL the same year, sought to have it cleared by the SAG. On further examination, it was found by SAG scientists that the encryption system contained Chinese processors which, it was suspected, could potentially compromise all special operations within the country.

An encryption system is an essential feature in SATCOM terminals as they help in protecting transmission of and securing sensitive communication which could otherwise be intercepted. The NTRO procured “bulk encryption systems” in early 2009 as part of a project that was called “Sampark”.

According to sources in the country’s security establishment, senior NTRO officials procured the systems, worth Rs 30 crore, without taking due clearance from the SAG which is the government’s sole certifying authority for such hi-tech and sensitive equipment which the security agencies, including the Intelligence Bureau, use for operations.

The encryption system was used by the NTRO for at least six months during which time intelligence information was transmitted without clearance from the authorities concerned.

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DRDO passes its expertise to NTRO – I

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All the stalwarts of DRDO who were master of manipulating government funds, misinterpretation of government rules having expertise in inculcating a negative attitude towards self reliance and always planning commission and omission through bulk purchases were shifted to NTRO an agency established by the government after KARGIL debacle. The modus operandi of DRDO & NTRO experts/bosses are twin in appearance, if CBI enquires in depth the enquiry will reveal that the entire procurement/ recruitment system are identical.

Deccan Herald

Under veil of secrecy, elint outfit gobbles funds

Chandan Nandy, Bangalore, Mar 20, 2012, DHNS:

Less spying and more misuse of resources in elite security set-up

Eight years after its creation, the National Technical Research Organisation (NTRO), which was established on the lines of Britain’s Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ) and America’s National Security Agency (NSA), is in a mess. 

 Far from performing the responsibilities it was entrusted with after it was found that the country’s security establishment lacked effective technical/communications intelligence capabilities, the NTRO is battling serious allegations of corruption.And the lid has been blown off from within: a former NTRO scientist, V K Mittal, has been able to fight his way through the webs of secrecy and official pressure and intimidation to force the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) to institute a special audit which the Supreme Court is now seized of.According to one estimate, misappropriation of funds in the NTRO is to the tune of Rs 800 crore, which was alloted Rs 9,832 crore in the 2011-12 financial year. The organisation spends approximately 62 per cent of the money on purchase of equipment and maintains a secret service fund of about Rs 36 crore. Most of the procurements were through single tenders.According to a February 29, 2012 CAG reply to Mittal’s RTI application, the audit body “noticed lack of transparency and non-compliance of rules and procedures in procurement of systems/stores/equipment and deficient procurement management, resulting in cases of excess payment/wasteful expenditure/loss to the exchequer.”Investigations by Deccan Herald revealed that despite objections from the chief of communications intelligence, senior NTRO officers procured satellite communication terminals worth Rs 18 crore in early 2009 from a blacklisted company, Singapore Technology.

The previous year (May 2008), Mittal, as head of NTRO’s Centre for Communications Applications (CCA) wrote to the then NTRO chairman K V S S Prasad Rao claiming that the use of satellite communication (SATCOM) equipment on board unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) was “never a part of the original request for proposal (RFP) or tender” and “hence no technical evaluation was carried out” at any stage by his division.

Although the SATCOM equipment were to be procured from two Israeli companies, Israeli Aerospace Industry (IAI) and ELTA, visits by CCA officers to these firms in Israel yielded little. “In all meetings (at least four times in Tel Aviv) CCA has been requesting IAA/ELTA to give details of the antenna and other systems associated with SATCOM onboard the UAV. Despite our concerted efforts and repeated demands, IAI/ELTA have refused to part with necessary information,” documents in possession of Deccan Herald say.

Alarmingly, the trials of the SATCOM for UAVs, instead of being carried out in India were undertaken in Australia despite strong objections on the ground that the tests should be carried out in Indian conditions. “The offer of trials outside India was firmly turned down by CCA due to various technical reasons in July-August 2007. Hence the rationale for trials oustide India, despite our strong opposition is not clear to us,” the document of May 9, 2008 says.

The main reason why trials (which were to be witnessed by representatives of the Army, Air Force and the Navy) in Australia were not considered feasible was the IAI/ELTA had provided incomplete information about the antenna proposed for SATCOM onboard UAVs. Besides, it was found that the antenna was “suboptimal” and “did not meet the requisite standard of radiation”, and that power amplifiers required modifications “to be able to meet digital modulation requirements.”

Documents in Deccan Herald’s possession suggest that the Israeli companies failed to demonstrate any SATCOM specialisation for the equipments, including electronic intelligence payload for the UAVs, a project that cost Rs 40 crore.

It was after Mittal was served a memo by the then NTRO adviser (in the rank of additional secretary) M S Vijayaraghavan for objecting to the SATCOM equipment deal that he quit the NTRO and blew the whistle on the goings-on in the country’s communications intelligence organisation. Subsequent internal inquiries and special audits by the CAG in January 2010 (the NTRO was outside the purview of any government audit when it was formed) led to the chargesheeting of seven officers.

A retired senior intelligence officer blamed “those in control of the country’s security apparatus” for NTRO’s “miserable condition.”

Under the scanner

* Internet monitoring system (Rs 30 cr)
* Information processing software (Rs 5 cr)
* Satellite communication monitoring system (Rs 30 cr)
* Civil works contract in Dehradun (Rs 40 cr)        
* Electronic intelligence payload (Rs 30 cr)