Lagatar24 Desk
Ranchi: Jharkhand Police continues to face questions over alleged financial irregularities in procurement of security equipment. After reports of inflated purchases of X-ray baggage scanners and night vision cameras, fresh revelations point to overpricing in the purchase of non-linear junction detectors (NLJD)—a device used to detect hidden electronic gadgets, regardless of whether they are switched on or off.
Jharkhand Police bought the Orion 900 NLJD model for ₹17.5 lakh, while Bihar Police acquired the same model for just ₹12 lakh.
Same device, different prices
Documents show that during the tender process for the NLJD procurement, three companies — JC Michael Inc., Lifeline Security and System, and MIM Technician — qualified as L1, L2, and L3 bidders respectively. All of them listed the same model from the same OEM (original equipment manufacturer) as their supply offering. However, the technical committee failed to notice or question this duplication and approved all three vendors.
Interestingly, MIM Technician and Arihant Trading Company appear to have a direct link. MIM submitted documents showing experience supplying NLJD devices to the UP Jail Department, but those orders were actually issued to Arihant Trading. Similarly, documents submitted by JC Michael also trace back to Arihant’s supply to Bihar Police, which in March 2022 bought 7 NLJDs for ₹84 lakh, amounting to ₹12 lakh per unit.
Lifeline Security, the L2 bidder, earlier supplied 4 NLJDs to Uttarakhand Police for ₹55.67 lakh in 2021, pricing them at roughly ₹13 lakh per unit.
A pattern of inflated pricing?
These discrepancies raise questions about the diligence of the procurement and technical committees. Were officials unaware of these details, or did they deliberately ignore them? Was there pressure involved, or were key committee members misled?
Central to this situation is wireless inspector Vikas Rana, along with branch officers Rahul Kumar and Pritam, who allegedly influenced the process. It’s unclear how Rana, primarily a wireless officer, was included in a technical committee overseeing purchases for both police headquarters and the Home Guard.
Sources suggest that Rana’s involvement traces back five years, during the tenure of the then IG (Provisions). Further revelations about this connection are expected soon.
