City shipping service officials booked by CBI for graft

The investigation agency has listed Rajinder Singh, former director of the Directorate of the shipping services as the first suspect in the case. The other accused are R Veeraiah, deputy director, and J Gopinath, officer-in-charge, planning, captain PB Narayanan and Shreelatha Narayanan, directors of private firm ABS Marine Services, Chennai. 

The case pertains to the activities that took place from the year 2010 to 2018 and after a detailed inquiry, the CBI has decided to register a case against the suspects under provisions of the Prevention of Corruption Act, along with IPC Sections for cheating and criminal conspiracy. 

The CBI has claimed that there were irregularities, abuse of official position and malpractices in outsourcing the manning work of foreshore sector vessels by DSS to ABS Marine Services. In the process, the government exchequer suffered loss worth crores of rupees, said the CBI FIR registered this month. According to the CBI, the officers have been booked after two years of probe as the investigation into the case began in the year 2018 and was headed by a Deputy Superintendent of Police in Port Blair.