MUMBAI, SEPT 30: Twenty years of backbreaking research by defence scientists had gone into the perfection of the steel which was sold by defence personnel to a scrap dealer in Kurla for a paltry Rs 8 per kg.``It was no ordinary steel, but strategic steel as it had numerous defence applications,'' moaned a defence scientist working on the project, adding that foreign countries would have paid a fortune to acquire it. The multi-functional, high-grade steel developed by the Naval Metallurgical Research Laboratories (NMRL) could be used to build submarine pressure hulls, missile launch platforms and warship hulls and would set the country on the road to self-sufficiency in production of the steel.``We were totally ignorant of the actual value and use of the steel and we sold the entire lot rather cheaply,'' admitted garbage contractor Ashok Gaikwad, who smuggled 13 tonnes of the steel out of the Naval Dockyard in two trucks allegedly at the behest of the chief security officer of the dockyard Commander KKS Rajendran in August.The steel was later recovered by the Colaba police from Mohammed Bashir's scrapyard at Jari Mari in Kurla where it had been sold for a piffling Rs 85,000. The prime accused Rajendran was arrested along with five others on Wednesday.The technique to make such steel is a closely-guarded secret and the preserve of a few Western nations and India has been spending over Rs 100 crore per year in precious foreign exchange importing this to build warships and for civil applications, scientists said.``As it has several defence applications, Western countries often declined to sell it to us when we refused to specify its end use,'' said the scientist. So, in the late 1970s, the NMRL began research on the steel employing a team of 10 scientists headed by one Dr Deepak Kumar Biswas.The breakthrough came some five years ago when the scientists perfected the steel which had a combination of high strength, tensility and excellent weldability.The scientists began producing the steel in small batches. The stolen shipment was one such prototype production batch and had been brought for further testing to the dockyard.A high-level committee led by Defence Adviser Dr A P J Abdul Kalam recognised the importance of the breakthrough which was subsequently verified by five agencies including the Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC) and the National Metallurgical Laboratories.But such complexities were lost on scrap dealer Bashir, who further undervalued the steel assuming that it to be scrap and hence not capable of resale.Bashir, who has been operating from his premises at the Jari Mari for the last 25 years later told the police that he would never have touched the consignment if he was aware it was highly sensitive defence material.The plates, which measured about four square feet each and estimated to cost Rs 18 lakh, were stashed along with other iron and aluminium scrap material for sale and eventually for melting at a furnace. Fortunately, the police managed to recover the stoeln scrap as Bashir did not get a customer for over 22 days. Bashir later told the police that he would have sold the plates in pieces or gas-cut them to suit the customer's requirments.According to Police Inspector Sunil Babar, who is investigating the case, Gaikwad was only aware that he had to smuggle some unwanted iron plates, which were lying near a garbage yard inside naval dockyard. He informed Bashir on August 29 that he would bring some scrap for disposal on the following day, Babar added.
