Bomb suit maker held

Bomb suit maker held

Officials of the Economic Offences Wing (EOW) on Monday arrested Bimal Agarwal, director of Techno Trade Impex that manufactured bomb suits for the police, immediately after the sessions court rejected his anticipatory bail application. Rajwardhan Sinha, additional commissioner of police (EOW), said: “We have arrested Agarwal. Further investigations are on.” In January 2009, the state police floated tenders for bomb suits post 26/11 terror attacks. Techno Trade Impex won the bid and was given an order for 80 bomb suits for which the state paid around Rs6crore. The suits, which were supplied only in 2010, were rejected by the government as they were not in accordance with the quality standards. Agarwal moved the Bombay high court in March 2010, challenging the government's decision. Former principal secretary (home) PK Jain, in an affidavit filed before the HC, claimed that the firm had acquired 36 suits from South Africa and the rest from China. After the Anti-Corruption Bureau probed into the matter and submitted its report to the home department, a case was registered against the firm. In May, the EOW booked Agarwal for cheating and forgery for supplying inferior quality bomb suits. He then applied for anticipatory bail claiming he had being implicated in the case on the instructions of an IPS officer.