CBI, Army vigilance wing carry out daylong search at NDA

The sources in the NDA added that after 3 pm the CBI team went around various departments — 12 in all — in connection with investigation pertaining to the radio frequency identification (RFID) project in the NDA. The Rs 60-lakh project undertaken in the NDA in 2010 involved data linking of the departments within the NDA along with Vyas library of the academy. “The CBI team found RFID machines in some departments. In some, they were missing. The project, though executed within NDA, has been a failure as computers procured under RFID project are used as individual computers by many. The team took files with them,” said a source.

Confirming the operation, a CBI source said: “Searches were carried out based on specific inputs. It was a joint raid by the CBI team and the Army’s vigilance wing. The matter pertains to computers procured within the NDA and their functioning. The CBI team will study the documents and other pertinent objects taken during the search and accordingly a case may be registered. The operation is likely to continue till late night.”

The team was reportedly inside the NDA till 8 pm.

NDA spokesperson Wing Commander T Natraj neither confirmed nor denied the CBI raid but said: “We do not know what exactly happened. I am not able to get inputs from the right authority.”

Newsline had on July 4, 2013, reported that a Court of Inquiry into alleged irregularities in the procurement of IT stationery, including 2,100 “thin clients” (customised laptops), had remained inconclusive.