New Delhi, Jul 31 (PTI) With the CBI booking four Navy officials in an alleged graft case, the Indian Navy on Friday said action against them will depend on the findings of the investigation by the premier agency.

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has booked 18 people, including four Navy officials, for allegedly siphoning off Rs 6.76 crore by generating fake bills for purported supply of IT hardware to the Western Naval Command in Mumbai.

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Four officials of the Controller of Defence Accounts (CDA) in Mumbai have also been named as accused by the central agency in the case. The CBI carried out searches at 28 locations across four states on Wednesday in connection with the case.

"As per certain reports in the media, naval officers have been 'booked' by CBI in a fraudulent bills case. Navy follows a 'Zero Tolerance' policy in such issues. It is for information that the case is at a preliminary stage of the investigation," the Indian Navy tweeted.

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It said the First Information Report (FIR) registered on Jul 21 in the case indicates the likelihood of misuse of the FIS (Financial Information System) computers at the headquarters of the Western Naval Command by the fraudsters in connivance with few officials of CDA Navy and some vendors.

"Culpability of the individuals is yet to be established. Further action in this regard will be taken based on the findings of the CBI inquiry," the Navy said.

According to the FIR, all the accused naval officers abused their official position to defraud the naval authorities and rob the exchequer of public money.

The bills were allegedly raised between January and March in 2016 at the Western Naval Command for supplying information technology and networking related hardware.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)