China-made parts camouflaged as ‘Made in Germany’ have found their way to the production line of indigenised Bofors guns used by the Army, prompting the CBI to file a case against a Delhi-based company.
Besides Sidh Sales Syndicate, the CBI registered a case against unidentified officials of the Gun Carriage Factory (GCF), Jabalpur, under criminal conspiracy, cheating and forgery for supplying fake and cheap China-made spares passing off as Made in Germany for Dhanush guns, the FIR alleged. Dhanush is the indigenised version of the Bofors artillery guns which performed exceedingly well during the Kargil conflict in 1999.
The CBI alleged that the supplier entered into criminal conspiracy with the unidentified GCF officials to supply duplicate spare parts (bearings) used in the manufacture of Dhanush guns. “Unknown officials of GCF accepted the Chinese manufactured ‘Wire Race Roller Bearings’ supplied by Sidh Sales Syndicate embossed as ‘CRB—Made in Germany’,” the CBI said in the FIR.
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Crucial component
The agency said production and performance of the Dhanush gun was extremely crucial for India’s defence preparedness and “wire race roller bearing” was its vital component.
A tender was floated for the procurement of four such bearings. The order was given to Sidh Sales Syndicate in 2013, the FIR said. The order was increased to six bearings, which the company supplied, with ‘certificates in origin’ showing that the bearings were procured from CRB Antriebstechnik, Germany.
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Information received by the CBI shows that the German firm does not manufacture these parts. It showed that Sidh Sales Syndicate got them manufactured by Sino United Industries (Luyang) Ltd., Henan, China.