In 2014, news broke that the defence boffins in DRDO blew up tax money to build a high-tech chariot for a temple.

The country’s premier military technology research organisation that builds missiles and aircraft spent a year building the god car.

They came under fire.

In Parliament, a question arose if DRDO had indeed built a chariot and donated it to the temple, whether the government had approved the project, and what action would be taken if it hadn't.

Though DRDO began working on the project during the Congress-led government, the question fell into the lap of the newly elected BJP government, which once rode from political fringes to prominence with a chariot.

But surprisingly, Parrikar stonewalled the query by stating in the Lok Sabha that the matter was “under inquiry”. 

Part 6 of The Collective’s investigation into government’s assurances shows Parrikar hid information on the scandal – in which the allegations sat against high officials, one of whom is now a member of the Niti Aayog. 

Our investigative series, "Parliament Defied," delves into thousands of assurances made by ministers of the Narendra Modi government over the past five years in Parliament, examining their outcomes.

The investigation into the chariot scandal shows Parrikar didn’t reveal to Parliament about an internal fact-finding committee, its findings, allegations of victimisation of a whistleblower.

The story also reveals the legal fight put up by a DRDO lab director who refused to be scapegoated by the ministry.

The Union government later moved to kill an assurance to probe the scandal involving misuse of the country's resources.

Click here to read the full story.

In case you missed the previous investigations in the series, click here to read.