CBI books former Coast Guard Director-General Natarajan

Agency alleges tampering of reports, dossiers of senior officers

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.

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.

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.