Will Natarajan get ACC approval as Suresh obtained for CMD, MOIL?
Is “Zero Tolerance towards Corruption” merely a Jumla of Modi Sarkaar?
Is there dearth of honest officers or corruption is new norm for selection to Top Posts ?
Whistle Blower hounded, harassed, victimised & prematurely retired by SAIL and Ministry but alleged officers rewarded with Board level Positions
V Suresh : During his tenure as RM/NR he supplied about 1,00,000 Tonne to FAKE Projects; Laid the foundation of supplying SWR14 Grade Blooms to Avon Steel Industries P Ltd at exorbitantly low prices & supplied about 1,00,000 Tonne during his tenure as RM/NR; Sources claim that SAIL lost Rs 500 CR.
T N Natrajan : During his tenure as RM/WR he supplied about 1,00,000 Tonne to FAKE Projects; All these supplies are after complaint of Venkatesh Infra Projects P Ltd was in public domain and Ministry has already endorsed CBI investigations in the same and directed SAIL to initiate RDA against M C Agarwal; Dumps LOKPAL order dated Jan 10, 2024. Keeps supplying to Fake Projects; even suspension of 29 officer could not deter him; About 40,000 Tonne sold to FAKE Projects after LOKPAL’s order.
The name of V Suresh has been cleared by ACC for the post of CMD MOIL on Jan 07, 2026. He was selected for the post by PESB on Oct 04, 2025, although he was under CBI scanner in the case of supplies to Venkatesh Infra Projects P Ltd and Avon Steel Industries P Ltd and had a major role as business with both the firms was transacted by the Northern Region when Suresh was the Regional Manager there, the key decision maker. He was among the suspended officers. The salary difference for the suspension period is still not paid to him. It is noteworthy that ex-Chairman SAIL Soma Mondal was among the Members of PESB who selected Suresh for the post of CMD MOIL. By virtue of being alleged in the same CBI cases which are still going on, the selection raises many question marks and ACC approval many more. It was under Directorship of Soma only, the alleged transactions with the above two firms had taken place in SAIL.
Suresh’s Background
Suresh joined SAIL in 1991 and rose to become Regional Manager(RM) of Northern Region (NR) of CMO-SAIL in Jan 2019. It may be noted that RM is a key post in SAIL which is entrusted with the authority to approve the reduced prices for the Projects/FAKE Projects. Before taking over as RM/NR, he worked as Branch Manager of four branches of NR viz. Ludhiana, Delhi, Faridabad & Ghaziabad. Though a South Indian, but spent a major part of his career in SAIL in NCR i.e. close to the power centre. Given his knack of favouring private firms at the cost of SAIL, management found him overqualified for the job of RM/NR. Around July 2021 he was promoted by SAIL management to Executive Director (Coal Import Group) of SAIL and subsequently he was selected as Director Commercial NMDC in Nov 2022. It may be noted that SAIL imports over 15 Million Tonne of Coal annually which is handled by the Coal Import Group.
The first major case of FAKE Project which began in Feb 2019 from BSO-Faridabad was that of SUBHAM BUILDERS which belonged to the promoters of NOHAR CHAND & SONS STEELS P LTD ; NOHAR CHAND LOHA BHANDAR and INTERNATIONAL LOHA BHANDAR P LTD who are the trading firms doing business with NCR branches of SAIL. Starting Feb’2019, over 11,000 Tonne of TMT Bars supplied to the firm and illegal benefit of over Rs 3.0 CR was doled out. Having successfully hoodwinked the system with sale of TMT Bars to SUBHAM BUILDERS, in Mar 2021, a grand entry of another FAKE Project firm SHIKHA CONSTRUCTION, a firm belonging to the same promoters, took place. Suresh approved the first PROJECT MOU with SHIKHA CONSTRUCTION and SAIL ended up supplying about 10,000 Tonne of steel, primarily plates resulting in loss of over Rs 5.0 CR to SAIL.
To read the story about SUBHAM BUILDERS & SHIKHA CONSTRUCTION in detail, click on the link below:
The second case of FAKE Project under the able leadership of Suresh began in May 2019 with SHRI SIDHIVINAYAK ENTERPRISES. This firm was the other firm of Shri Vipin Khandelwal, proprietor of S S & CO, a distributor/dealer of SAIL attached to Delhi. About 1300 Tonne of TMT Bars were sold to SHRI SIDHIVINAYAK ENTERPRISES.
Then came the auspicious month of Oct2020 when a PROJECT MOU of 1,50,000 Tonne was entered into with Venkatesh Infra Projects P Ltd. As much has already been talked about this firm, here we limit ourselves to the fact that maximum illegal benefit of about Rs. 100 Crores was doled out to the firm including illegal TOD payment of Rs. 4.05 Crores.
To read the story about Venkatesh Infra Projects P Ltd in detail, click on the links below:
Though Avon Steel Industries P Ltd was an old customer of SAIL buying SWR14 Grade blooms but in the same auspicious month of Oct 2020, the price difference between HR Coils and blooms suddenly escalated to Rs 9,500 PMT and went as high as Rs 21,000 PMT in Jun 2021 whereas the conversion cost for converting blooms to Narrow Width HR Coils was about Rs 4,000 to Rs 4,500 PMT. On supply of over 2.5 lakh Tonne of SWR14 Blooms, loss to SAIL or windfall profit to Avon Steel Industries P Ltd was estimated to be Rs 231 Crores. In the investigation report, CVO SAIL estimated that this figure could be as high as Rs 370 Crores.
Suresh, under whose leadership the game was being played with Avon Steel Industries P Ltd was the Branch Manager of Ludhiana from 2003 to 2007, and was fully aware of the business dynamics of Narrow Width HR Coils and the conversion economics of converting blooms to Narrow Width HR Coils. Moreover, Suresh having worked as Branch Manager of Faridabad was also aware of the business dynamics of SKELP, a product similar to Avon’s narrow width HR Coils, used to be produced by SAIL till 2014.
In between supplies to AJAY KUMAR CONTRACTOR begin in July 2020. About 3,500 Tonne of TMT Bars were sold to the firm on negotiated prices incurring a loss of about Rs 2.0 CR to SAIL. Sources confirm that it was also a FAKE Project. The invoices issued by SAIL contain 09ARGPK9137P1ZZ as the GSTIN of the firm which has been issued in the name of the firm AJAY KUMAR and not AJAY KUMAR CONTRACTOR. By adding the word “CONTRACTOR” to the name of the firm, it was made PROJECT.
T N Natrajan has been recently been selected as Director (Commercial) of SAIL by the Search-cum-Selection Committee (SCSC) under the Ministry of Steel and the file for approval of his name for the post by ACC is under process. He was lucky that he was not suspended. However, it has been gathered that in the new LOKPAL/CBI case involving supply of steel to 40 FAKE Project firms, CBI has already sent a questionnaire to him.
Natrajan’s Background
Natrajan joined SAIL in 1993 at its Bhilai Steel Plant. In 2003, he moved to the Central Marketing Organisation of SAIL. In Jan 2022, he was moved to Mumbai as Regional Business Manager of Western Region and in July 2023 he was given the additional charge of Regional Manager of Western Region (RM-WR). Subsequently he was made RM-WR. After his selection as Director (Commercial) his has been moved to Delhi in the Director (Commercial)’s office.
During his tenure as RM-WR, he was instrumental in supplying steel to the following FAKE Projects with some of them supplied after LOKPAL’s order dated Jan 10, 2024.
RUDRANATH INFRA AND CONSTRUCTIONS P LTD; STRIKE INFRACON LLP; ZARIELLE PROJECTS AND SERVICES LLP; FIESTO INFRA PROJECTS P LTD; SHREE SIDHBALI ISPAT LIMITED; SMW ISPAT PRIVATE LIMITED; OMAT WEST LTD; (the previous six firms connected to OfBusiness) LEELAWATI CONSTRUCTION COMPANY; P2P INFRA; NIRMAN E-STORE LLP; ZHUZOOR INFRATECH PRIVATE LTD; INDOSUP INFRA PRIVATE LIMITED (previous three are B2B commerce firms); SHRI MOHANGARH CONSTRUCTION COMPANY & SMCC-AG-JV; MADHAV INFRATECH; AB BUILDCON; HITECH INFRA SOLUTIONS; RS INFRA PROJECTS; (the previous three firms belong to same promoters) AMBER INDUSTRIES; AVS INFRA PROJECT; BHARAT INFRA AND CONSTRUCTIONS; DM CORP ASSOCIATES; EMPIRE CITICON PVT LTD; HIND INFRA COMPANY;; ISHWAR METAL INDUSTRIES; BRIGHT INFRA SOLUTIONS; RAINBOW VANIJYA PRIVATE LIMITED; SAURABH INFRASTRUCTURE PRIVATE LTD & SAURABH MASON PRIVATE LIMITED; SILVERWATER METALS & MINERALS P LTD; ZETWERK MNF. BUSINESSES PVT LTD; AONE INFRATECH; M D CONSTRUCTION AND DEVELOPERS; SHRI PARASNATH CONSTRUCTION.
Sold about 40,000 Tonne to FAKE Projects after LOKPAL’s order
In the complaints regarding sales of steel products to M/s Venkatesh Infra Projects P Ltd and M/s Avon Steel Industries P Ltd, while handing over the complaints to CBI, LOKPAL vide order dated January 10, 2024 not only made scathing remarks on the functioning of SAIL but also directed SAIL to formulate a clear and unambiguous policy with regard to MOU, pricing, and relaxation.
Source
: Order dated January 10, 2024 of Honourable LOKPAL of India
https://lokpalonline.gov.in/lokpalonline/cdn/web_upload/CN73,74and752023_1705052862.pdf
Immediately after the above order, 29 officials were suspended by Ministry of Steel on January 19, 2024 but all this could not deter and desist Natrajan from supplying to FAKE Projects
Few of the above firms have been covered in detail by us in our previous news article. Links of the same are given below.
https://www.bureaugram.com/news/agrawal-family-and-sail-officials-a-relationship-beyond-business
https://www.bureaugram.com/news/nexus-between-ofbusiness-and-sail-officials
(The above article has been written based on extensive research and inputs from various sources including sources from SAIL)
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