Former Indian Coast Guard Director-General K. Natarajan. File
| Photo Credit: B. Jothi Ramalingam
The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has registered a case against the former Indian Coast Guard Director-General K. Natarajan and unknown others for alleged tampering/alteration of the Annual Confidential Reports (ACRs)/dossiers of senior officers.
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The agency has invoked provisions related to criminal conspiracy, cheating and forgery and named Mr. Natarajan as an accused. He served as the 23rd DG of Coast Guard. He assumed office on July 1, 2019, and was superannuated on December 31, 2021.
The First Information Report (FIR) mentions that the then Inspector General Rakesh Pal made a representation dated June 7, 2021, to the office of the Defence Secretary, raising the issue of “alleged deliberate reduction in numerical assessment of his ACRs/dossiers to deprive him of his next possible promotion” to the rank of Additional Director-General (ADG) in a Departmental Promotion Committee (DPC) meeting in 2019.
Mr. Pal was promoted to the rank of ADG in February 2022 and given additional charge of DG in February 2023, before being confirmed as the 25th DG of Coast Guard in July 2023. At the age of 59, he passed away in Chennai on August 18, 2024.
Panel formed
Earlier, taking cognisance of the representation, the Defence Ministry constituted a fact-finding committee comprising Joint Secretary (Armed Forces) and “Joint Secretary (BRO & Cer)” to examine the ACRs of the last seven years — from 2014 onwards related to IGs/ADGs under consideration for promotion to the ADG rank since September 2019.
The FIR noted that the committee reported “tampering/alteration/irregularities” in some of the ACRs of officers under consideration for promotion to the ADG rank in DPCs held in 2019 and 2021. After examination, it discovered instances of alleged alteration in ACRs/dossiers of many officers. The ACRs of a few officers were also missing.
Further, the Non Initiation Certificates (NICs) were not found to be in order as “they are not in congruence with the transfer/posting profile of the concerned officer and initiating officer. NICs have been submitted 3-4 years after passing of the reporting” period, as alleged.
Following a communication from the Defence Ministry on February 12, 2024, the CBI initiated a preliminary inquiry into the matter on April 29, 2024. It found that as per the Coast Guard’s policy, ACRs of DIG-rank officers are kept in the personal custody of the ADG concerned and those of IGs and above are kept in the personal custody of the DG.
For DPC meetings, the ACRs are carried in a sealed condition by the DG, and at the time of transfer/superannuation of the DG, they are handed over to the successor through a memo.
The agency found that the DPC for promotion of DIGs to the rank of IG was held on April 4, 2016. As alleged, the names of Rajan Bagrotra, Rakesh Pal and S. Paramesh, the then DIGs, were considered and they were promoted based on their ACR grading for the year 2011 to 2015.
Their names were considered for promotion to the rank of ADG in the DPCs held during September and December 2019. ACRs for the period 2014 to 2019 were taken into account.
The CBI purportedly found that alterations had been made in the ACRs for 2014 and 2015. For 2014, the ACR grading in the case of Rajan Bagrotra allegedly increased from 14.90 to 15.10; in the case of Mr. Paramesh it remained the same (15.10); and in the case of Pal, the grading reduced from 15.10 to 15. For 2015, the grading related to Mr. Bagrotra was the same (15.58); that of Mr. Paramesh increased from 14.80 to 14.985; and that of Pal reduced from 15.34 to 14.98, as per the FIR.
“…as a result, Rakesh Pal was placed at Sr. No. 3 below other two officers and was not promoted by DPC held during September 2019,” it alleged.
The CBI found that vide a “handing over/taking over” memo dated June 30, 2019, the then “DG Rajender Singh handed over all the ACR dossiers (including that of Rajan Bargotra and Rakesh Pal) to K. Natarajan”, the successor. “At this point of time, no issue of any alteration and tampering of such records was observed,” the FIR said.
“The tampered/altered ACRs of IG Rakesh Pal have been used during the year 2019 when the ACRs were under the direct custody of DG K. Natarajan,” it alleged.
Based on the preliminary inquiry findings, the CBI registered the case.
Published – February 11, 2025 12:48 pm IST