SAIL PROJECT SCAM: RAUNAQ obtained over 45,000 T of TMT Bars at negotiated prices; SAIL gets hit of over Rs 12 CR

Key officers involved rewarded with promotions: Vinod Gupta & Suresh Rajamohan promoted to ED, Chandresh Kumar to CGM

Pending CBI investigations Ministry revokes suspension, all were brought back on important positions; Chandresh promoted after suspension revocation; he resigned in Nov 2025

RAUNAQ STEELS TRADING P LTD is a leading steel trading house in South India with major infrastructure facilities at Chennai and Vizag. They are SAIL distributors for steel Structurals. On an average, as Trader, they buy about 10,000 Tonne of steel products from SAIL every month. Due to its long-term business dealings with SAIL, that too in large quantities, RAUNAQ Group wields a lot of influence on the SAIL system.

RALAGO ENGINEERING PVT LTD & RAUNAQ FOUNDATIONS are two related firms of RAUNAQ STEELS TRADING P LTD

In Aug 2020, when Vinod Gupta was the Regional Manager of Southern Region (RM/SR) of CMO-SAIL, supplies of TMT Bars to RALAGO ENGINEERING PVT LTD were initiated as a FAKE Project on Negotiated prices. SAIL. Till Dec 2023, Southern Region of CMO-SAIL ended up selling over 26,000 Tonne of TMT Bars and about 1,000 Tonne of other steel products, amounting to about Rs 145 CR.

The documents accessed by “Bureaugram.com’ confirm that RALAGO ENGINEERING PVT LTD is a trading company. During FY 2020-21, 2021-22, 2022-23 & 2023-24 i.e. the period of supply from SAIL, the firm earned revenue of about Rs 150 CR from trading operations.

In May/June 2021, Gupta got promoted to ED and Suresh Rajamohan replaced him as RM/SR. In June/July 2023, Suresh got promoted to ED and Chandresh Kumar, RBM-LP-SR (Regional Business Manager Long Products Southern Region) was given the additional charge of RM/SR. In Jan 10, 2024, LOKPAL ordered CBI inquiry in the case of another FAKE Project – Venkatesh Infra Projects P Ltd and on Jan 19, 2024, 29 officers of SAIL were suspended. Gupta, Suresh & Chandresh were among them. It is further noteworthy that before being posted as RBM-LP-SR in July 2021, Chandresh was Branch Manager of Chennai, the supplying branch for RALAGO ENGINEERING PVT LTD and RAUNAQ STEELS TRADING P LTD.

By virtue of being Regional Managers of Southern Region in the past, both M C Agarwal and V S Chakarvarthy knew the promoters of RAUNAQ STEELS TRADING P LTD. They were ED (Sales & ITD) and Director (Commercial) respectively when sales to RALAGO ENGINEERING PVT LTD and RAUNAQ FOUNDATIONS happened. Sources claim that during his suspension also Chakarvarthy visited Chennai warehouse and customer, when as per terms of suspension he was not authorised allowed to do any official work or enter SAIL premises.

The suspension sent shock waves among officers of SAIL. Hence supplies to RALAGO ENGINEERING PVT LTD were discontinued from Jan 2024. With the stoppage of TMT Bars from SAIL, the trading operation plummeted significantly and the same is confirmed from the revenue of only Rs 2.7 CR in the next FY i.e. 2024-25. We have no hesitation in concluding that the firm was brought in only to earn windfall profit by obtaining TMT Bars from SAIL at exorbitantly low prices in the name of Project, in connivance with SAIL officials.

The data given below further confirms that RALAGO ENGINEERING PVT LTD has sold a major part of TMT Bars to RAUNAQ STEELS TRADING P LTD, a related party.

In Mar 2023, when Suresh was RM/SR and Chandresh was RBM-LP-SR, supplies of TMT Bars to RAUNAQ FOUNDATIONS began as a FAKE Project on Negotiated prices. Till Jun 2024, Southern Region of CMO-SAIL had sold over 18,000 Tonne of TMT Bars to the firm. After LOKPAL’s order dated Jan 10, 2024 which was followed by suspension of 29 officers, although supplied to RALAGO ENGINEERING PVT LTD were stopped but sales continued for RAUNAQ FOUNDATIONS.

Value of the purchase of TMT Bars made by RAUNAQ FOUNDATIONS from SAIL during 2021-22 & 2022-23 was about Rs 38 CR. The data given below indicate that during these two FYs RAUNAQ STEELS TRADING P LTD purchases Goods worth Rs 36.39 CR from RAUNAQ FOUNDATIONS. The two figures are very close to each other. The difference probably could be due to “UNDER INVOICING” to book loss in the books of RAUNAQ FOUNDATIONS.

Retiral benefits have not been paid to Suresh, Chakravarthy & Chandresh. Chakravarthy has not been paid the salary difference for the suspension period also. Gupta is due for superannuation on Apr 30, 2026 and it is expected that retiral benefits would not be paid to him also.

This is yet another case where firms which have been camouflaged as FAKE Projects belong to the same promoters who are already in business with SAIL as “Traders”/”Dealers” in their other firms. These new firms were incorporated/floated or brought in with the sole purpose of buying steel from SAIL at heavy discounts in the name of Projects and selling it in the open market for windfall gains, possibly mutual. It would not be an exaggeration that SAIL officials might have suggested the promoters of existing firms in business with SAIL to bring new firms. Other such cases are given below.

Also read https://www.bureaugram.com/news/sail-project-scam-a-syndicate-of-connivances

Among four regions of CMO-SAIL, it has been gathered that Southern Region is the front runner in supply of steel to the FAKE Projects

Apart from RALAGO ENGINEERING PVT LTD and RAUNAQ FOUNDATIONS, following are the major FAKE Project firms to whom steel have been sold by Southern Region of CMO-SAIL

VENKATESH INFRA PROJECTS PVT LTD; OFB TECH PRIVATE LIMITED; OFCONS PROJECTS AND SERVICES P LTD; ZARIELLE PROJECTS AND SERVICES LLP; NOBLE TECH INDUSTRIES PRIVATE LTD; ARTISTY INFRACON LLP; STRIKE INFRACON LLP; OAGRI FARM PRIVATE LIMITED (the previous seven firms connected to OfBusiness where M C Agarwal joined ad Director after superannuation from SAIL on July 31, 2023) B.RATHISH BALAJI; BRICK2WALL INFRATECH P LTD; HOMEPECKED E-MARKETPLACE SERVICES P LTD; SUNRISE INFRASOLUTIONS PVT LTD; IGNITE STEEL SOLUTION; ZETWERK MANUFACTURING BUSINESSES P LTD (previous five are B2B commerce firms); DHANAM INDUSTRIES; GR PROJECTS & ENGINEERS; ORIENT INFRA & PROJECTS (the previous two firms belong to same promoters i.e. Narendra & Narendra Steel Corp) PVV INFRA LIMITED; SHIKHA CONSTRUCTION; SHUBHAM BUILDERS (the previous two firms belong to same promoters i.e. Nohar Chand & Sons Steels P Ltd ; Nohar Chand Loha Bhandar and International Loha Bhandar P Ltd); V K ENGINEERING CONTRACTORS