‘Everyone wants crores for bulletproof jackets… mere chaar paise bach jaate’

The tape,obtained by The Indian Express,was submitted to the Home Ministry by a security firm which had supplied 20,000 bulletproof jackets to the Government last year but failed to make the cut this time.

The 25-minute tape is said to feature R K Varma,Joint Director of DRDO’s Terminal Ballistic Research Laboratory near Chandigarh,the venue of the jacket trials.

The Home Ministry today summoned Varma for an explanation to New Delhi and Home Secretary G K Pillai told The Indian Express that the voice on the tape would be tested.

“If the voice matches that of the official who did the testing, then if not a re-tendering of the contract,a re-testing of all samples could be on the cards,” Pillai said.

Among those who has heard the tape is A S Gill,Director General of CRPF and head of the Tender Approval Committee for the Rs 150-crore jacket contract. He told The Indian Express: “I am unhappy that procurement of the life-saving bulletproof jackets for the forces will be delayed since some key officials appear to have been compromised. As many as 13 complaints were received by us on this tender,but what is contained in the tape is very serious.”

The tape reveals that after a slew of complaints against the trials,Varma was pulled up by the Director,Vigilance,DRDO. He then decided to approach disqualified firms to include them afresh provided they raised their prices to the level of other vendors.

“I agree I was carried away by them (vendors),” Varma allegedly says on the tape,“but they are out to get me now…the last time we got medals for the bullet-proof jacket trials…this time we are getting juttis (beaten by shoes). Galti koi kare aur jutti main khaoon. Jutte bhi baant ke khanee chahiye…Everyone is involved. I am willing to accept my fault since I am the Joint Director and the head but others should get the juttis (the shoes) too.”

He purportedly says: “Main razor edge par chal rahaa hun. Agar yeh tender ho jaata through,mere chaar paise bach jaate (I am walking on the razor’s edge. If this tender goes through,I would have made some money.) I have also moved all my links till the top all of which are political…They (the selected companies) have rigged the tender and jacked up prices.”

In the tape,Varma purportedly claims that senior DRDO officials as well as corporate bigwigs were in contact with him in connection with the mega contract. He claims that one of the persons he met was Delhi’s Lt Governor Tejinder Khanna. “I met him personally in his chamber today…He told me son,do not worry I will take care.”

Ranjan Mukerjee,OSD to the Lt Governor,denied this and told The Indian Express that no such individual had either sought or was granted an audience with Khanna at his residence or office.

On the tape,the DRDO official allegedly unveils a “plan” to tell the Technical Advisory Committee that discrepancies did exist during ballistic testing of the samples — conducted in August and October 2008 — and that he had browbeaten a woman scientist into admitting to “committing mistakes” during the trials.

“We have to encash the situation…we have to burn the dead body now…Ballistic cheez hi aisi hai banana mushkil hai maarna bahut aasaan hai (Ballistics is such a thing that it is very difficult to make easy to kill someone,but difficult to save someone).”

He allegedly claims that during the trials,he misrepresented the “trauma for some samples” (effect of bullets on the jackets) and “did not take cognizance of the angle of incidence and conducted some firing in darkness.”

Varma allegedly admits to threatening the scientist who signed the ballistic trial reports.

He purportedly says on the tape,“I was very tough with her on the phone. I told her I will spoil your ACR and you will remain a Scientist B for the next 30 years…She was trembling and was wondering what has happened to Varma…she said I am ready,will tell the Committee I overlooked certain things and that I will say it was all my mistake. I told her,yes my dear,you will speak these very lines in the meeting. And I will also tell the meeting that some mistakes have been done inadvertently and were not of the point of view of the SOPs (Standing Operating Procedures).”

Varma then allegedly claims to have a “new formula” for “redistribution of the quantity of jackets to vendors.”

“If R K Varma is not there who will clear the production lots?…how these things are passed or failed is not something that is never discussed. There have been lots of miscalculations and politics (over this tender). A lot has happened…Everyone wants 15,000 jackets and earn crores.”