Bengaluru: A Hyderabad-based company, TEC Aero Devices, has been booked for allegedly submitting 199 forged test reports to HAL in connection with supplies for the LCA Mk-1A project.
Based on a complaint lodged by Ranu Gupta, Deputy General Manager of HAL’s Aircraft Division, the FIR was registered on June 2 at the HAL police station.
The accused has been named as M Sivarama Prasad, CEO of TEC Aero Devices. Police have invoked sections relating to cheating and forgery.
According to the complaint, Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) had issued 18 purchase orders to TEC Aero Devices from March 2022 onwards for the supply of various components for the LCA Mk-1A programme. The company had obtained approval certificates for manufacturing 35 categories of parts after submitting samples, test reports and other documents.
During bulk supplies, the company was required to furnish original test reports. HAL’s Quality Control Department later sought original reports relating to tensile strength, hardness, break load, shear, NDT, microstructure and salt spray tests. However, the company allegedly failed to produce the original documents.
The complaint stated that representatives of TEC Aero Devices submitted an apology letter to HAL on November 22, 2023, admitting that two incorrect reports had been furnished in the name of Hyderabad-based Axis Inspection Solutions.
Subsequently, HAL conducted an audit at Axis Inspection Solutions on November 29, 2023, to verify the authenticity of 199 test reports submitted by TEC Aero Devices. The audit allegedly found that none of the reports had been issued by Axis Inspection Solutions and that all 199 reports submitted between February and September 2023 were forged.
Axis Inspection Solutions informed HAL that its name and signatures had been misused to create and submit fake reports, the FIR said.
HAL subsequently debarred TEC Aero Devices from doing business with the company for three years until March 10, 2027, and removed it from its list of approved suppliers. The complaint noted that no payments had been made by HAL to the firm.
The FIR stated that internal meetings were held before a decision was taken to initiate criminal proceedings, resulting in a delay in lodging the complaint.
There was no immediate response from TEC Aero Devices.
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