CBI Books Tata Consulting Engineers, Others in ₹800 Cr Project Scam

The CBI has filed a corruption case against the project director of Tata Consulting Engineers Limited, the chief manager of Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust (JNPT), and others for allegedly causing a wrongful loss of nearly ₹800 crore through irregularities in contract awards.

The case follows a preliminary enquiry that revealed alleged collusion between JNPT officials and private firms. The accusations include inflating project estimates, limiting competition to benefit select international bidders, granting undue favours to contractors, and suppressing critical reports from independent experts and agencies.

The CBI stated that it also investigated allegations of private companies gaining undue financial advantage through the misuse of official positions by JNPT officials. This reportedly led to significant losses to the public exchequer during two phases of the project, between 2003 and 2014 (Phase I) and from 2013 to 2019 (Phase II).

The CBI revealed that its enquiry uncovered a criminal conspiracy between JNPT officials and private individuals, leading to a wrongful loss of ₹365.90 crore in Phase 1 and ₹438 crore in Phase 2 of the project due to overdredging.

Those named in the case include Sunil Kumar Madabhavi, then Chief Manager (PP&D) at JNPT; Devdatta Bose, Senior GM at Tata Consulting Engineers Limited; the company’s Mumbai head office; BoskalisSmit India LLP; Jan De Nul Dredging India Pvt Ltd; and other unidentified public servants and private individuals.

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