CBI books 15 officers of defence ministry unit in 11 corruption cases

Mumbai: The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has registered 11 corruption cases against 15 officers of the Pay and Accounts (ORS) section at the Artillery/Army Aviation Centre (AAC) in Nashik, which operates under the Ministry of Defence’s Controller General of Defence Accounts (CGDA). The officers are accused of demanding and accepting bribes—often through middlemen—from army personnel in return for disbursing allowances and entitlements.

The alleged offences came to light during a Joint Surprise Check carried out on November 13, 2024, at the Nashik-based office, conducted in the presence of independent witnesses and officers from the Principal Controller of Defence Accounts (Army), Pune. The Pune team had been deputed by the CGDA’s vigilance wing in New Delhi.

According to CBI sources, the agency had received reliable information that staff responsible for maintaining pay and allowances of Artillery and Army Aviation personnel were soliciting illegal payments. In some cases, bribes were allegedly taken to expedite genuine entitlements; in others, to process non-entitled claims. These claims are currently under scrutiny.

During the joint check, investigators reportedly recovered incriminating communications from the WhatsApp chats of some of the accused. The chats allegedly contain evidence of demands and transactions related to the acceptance of bribes for performing official duties. The mobile phones containing these chats are now in the custody of the CGDA’s Vigilance Department.

CBI officials conducted searches on Tuesday at multiple locations linked to the accused, including premises in Mumbai, Pune, Nashik, Ahmedabad, Fatehabad, and Nagpur.

The accused include officers of auditor and assistant accounts officer rank posted at the CGDA office in Nashik. Investigators believe they colluded with unknown officials from the Record Office of Artillery and AAC to illegally profit from certain army personnel by manipulating “Casualty” (Daily Part-II) orders—official records used to process pay entitlements.