CBI sources said they have recovered the letter, a crucial evidence, from an official of Tatra a.S offering the deal in 1994 and is now trying to find if there was any sabotage.
They said despite the offer of completely built trucks at nearly Rs 23 lakh a piece in 1994 directly from the manufacturer, the BEML entered into a deal with Ravinder Rishi promoted Tatra Sipox UK in 1997, which was an intermediary, at much higher rates.
The agency feels that this act was allegedly at the behest of some interested parties and is investigating this further in its probe, they said.
The sources said India had entered into the truck supply deal with Czechoslovakia-based Tatra in 1986 through its authorised representative Omnipol.
After the division of the country in 1992, the company also got divided between Czech Republic-based Tatra a.S which manufactured 70 per cent of the truck and Slovakia-based Tatra Sipox which manufactured axles and chasis, they said.
They said close to the division of Czechoslovakia, there was chaos between 1991-94 when there was almost no supply and BEML, without any formal agreement, allegedly started procuring trucks from Venus, a representative of Tatra a.S.
The sources said in the letter the Tatra a.S official also mentions about the "comfort level" BEML enjoyed with Venus, which was an intermediary.
In the proposal, he had offered BEML to enter into a fresh agreement with the company on two conditions -- terminate the 1986 agreement with Omnipol and remove any intermediary, they said. (More)
