Irregular appointment: CBI carries out searches at Bokaro steel plant

NEW DELHI: The Central Bureau of Investigation said it has uncovered an appointment scam at Steel Authority of India’s Bokaro Steel Plant, alleging that sons of a former governor of Jharkhand, a BJP Rajya Sabha aspirant and a former high court judge got jobs on fraudulent grounds.

CBI booked SM Razi, the son of the former governor of Jharkhand and Congress leader Syed Sibtey Razi, who was a junior manager at SAIL. Raids were carried out at his Delhi home on Tuesday. The senior Razi was governor from 2004 to 2009 while his son was appointed in SAIL in 2008.

CBI also booked Raj Kumar Jatia, son of Satya Narain Jatia, former Lok Sabha BJP MP from Ujjain in Madhya Pradesh and former central minister. He’s been nominated by the BJP as a Rajya Sabha candidate.

His son was also working as a junior manager in SAIL. CBI also carried out raids in Ranchi to book SAIL junior manager Yogesh Chandra Patnaik, who is the son of former judge of the Jharkhand High Court, DGR Patnaik. All these appointments were made on fraudulent grounds after 2008, the CBI has said.

“It has been alleged that around 13 candidates were favoured and got selected for the posts of middle management/ junior management level at Bokaro Steel Plant by adopting fraudulent recruitment and selection process,” CBI said.

CBI has also booked former managing director VK Shrivasatava and executive director Jivesh Mishra of Bokaro Steel Plant over the allegations of fraudulent recruitment.

A total of 23 officials have been named in two first information reports by the CBI. A senior CBI official said that an internal vigilance inquiry by the Bokaro Steel Plant authorities had earlier found nothing wrong in the appointments.