Mumbai: SEEPZ IT advisor accuses top officials of corruption

Binod Agarwal (left) and Baldev Singh

An IT advisor with the Santacruz Electronics Export Processing Zone (SEEPZ), 37-year-old Binod Agarwal, who joined the Special Economic Zone (SEZ) at Andheri East in 2016 after retiring from the Indian Navy, has filed a criminal writ petition in the Bombay High Court alleging that Development Commissioner Baldev Singh terminated him from his post without giving any official intimation.

Agarwal claims that this step was taken as he was coming in the way of illegalities and wrongdoings Singh and Joint Development Commissioner V P Shukla were involved in. However, Singh has said Agarwal was not removed, instead his contract was not renewed as he was an under-performer.

Gate-pass system

Speaking to mid-day, Agarwal said, "I resigned from the Navy in May 2016 and joined the SEEPZ as an IT advisor on contract in October 2016. I was in the process of implementing the gate-pass Enterprise Resource Planning at SEEPZ, which would have eventually made gold smuggling difficult. Higher officials, including Singh got agitated over this and planned to terminate me. When I asked for leave on September 20, 2017, Singh asked me to discontinue my services, even though my contract was for two years. I immediately left the premises. Following this, Singh even stopped work on the gate-pass, citing malware in the system."

In November 2017, Agarwal approached the Central Administrative Tribunal (CAT) to challenge his termination. The CAT passed its order on May 2, 2018, directing Singh and others to bear Agarwal's cost (a total of Rs 25,000) of initiating, appearing and arguing for the case within two weeks. The petitioner further claims that Singh in connivance with the officers of MIDC police station had falsely implicated him in a case, following which he was arrested on October 23, 2018. He spent 65 days behind bars and managed to secure bail by furnishing a bail bond. Agarwal said that later the police had added Section 70 of the Information Technology Act in the FIR on Singh's directions to make the charges against him more stringent. "The fake case was filed against me as I had reported the matter to senior government officials as well," Agarwal added.

Police speak

Speaking to mid-day, Navinchandra Reddy, zonal deputy commissioner of police, said, "Agarwal is an accused in the case and was behind bars. We have already filed a charge sheet against him and the matter is sub-judice."

'He hacked into the system'

Singh said, "His laptop and mobile were sent to the Kalina forensic lab for tests, and the report states he had hacked into the system. He is writing letters to everyone alleging we have done injustice to him, but the fact is there is clear evidence against him. The report has been submitted at the court. It also shows Agarwal hatched a conspiracy with others, against whom action has been taken, and their allotments at SEEPZ have been cancelled. These officials had appealed before the Board of Ministry and Commerce for their reinstatement, but those have been rejected."

He added, "The firm that was implementing the gate-pass software left. They gave us a letter saying they would not be able to implement the system, for which we have imposed a penalty of Rs 15 lakh on them."

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