Bangalore: The top management of Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) had tipped off the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), which exposed an alleged job-for-cash scandal in the public sector undertaking (PSU) and was part of a "cleaning operation", HAL chairman N R Mohanty said today (Dec 17, 2003).

"The move was taken by the top management and the whole process is a cleaning process…" Mohanty told reporters in Bangalore on the sidelines of the annual meeting of the Aeronautical Society of India.

The CBI jointly with the vigilance department of HAL last week uncovered the alleged scandal and arrested a deputy manager at HAL's foundry and forge division, C Raghunathan, besides a former Bharat Electronics Ltd (BEL) employee K A Parameshwaran.

They were arrested after a complaint by a candidate Senthil Kumar from Thrissur, whose parents were being contacted by Parameshwaran, offering him a job at HAL for a bribe.

"I got some message from some quarters and this was passed on to the vigilance department for action," Mohanty said, adding that the deputy manager, from whom some articles and documents have been seized, may be dismissed from service.

"Drastic action will be taken. I have reacted strongly…It is a cleaning up process and I don't want to use a broom, but a vacuum cleaner so that there is no dust," he said, adding further investigations were on by the CBI on this issue.

PTI