- विज्ञापन -
Ludhiana, October 15:
The vigilance bureau arrested the Executive Engineer (XEN) of Municipal Corporation Ludhiana and booked other officials including retired Superintending Engineer and Deputy Controller Finance and Accounts (DCFA) for misappropriation of funds amounting to Rs 3,16,58,421.
The arrested accused has been identified as Ranbir Singh while other booked have been identified as retired SE Rajinder Singh and DCFA Pankaj Garg.
Mentionably, when the complaint was made after three years in this regard to VB then Ranbir Singh XEN started depositing the said amounts in the account of MC Ludhiana and he got deposited amount of Rs 3,12,23,729 during the period of 30.01.2024 to 21.03.2024 in cash in two months. According to the MC record, even then Rs 4,34,692 withdrew as temporary advances are still due towards the said accused, Ranbir Singh XEN.
The VB official stated that the accused have been booked after an investigation of a complaint no. 359/2023 lodged by Jaspinder Singh, Electric Pump Driver, posted at Zone C, MC Ludhiana. The complainant had alleged that Ranbir Singh XEN, posted in operation and maintenance branch, had received of Rs 3,16,58,421 as an advance payments from May 2021 to September 2022 from the MC accounts for making payments to the Punjab State Power Corporation Ltd (PSPCL) for various tubewell works but it was misappropriated by the officers in connivance with each other.
The official added that during the enquiry the VB didn’t find any documents relating to any proposal or demand by the PSPCL to pay advances for the tubewell works in Ludhiana city as the funds obtained by the said Ranbir Singh XEN.
He added that as per the official procedure, a requisite proposal has to be made by the concerned Junior Engineer (JE) or Sub Divisional Officer (SDO) and through proper channel, it was to be put up before the concerned XEN but no such process was adopted by the aforementioned accused to usurp the government funds for their personal gains.
The probe had revealed that said Ranbir Singh XEN had himself shown a fake demand by the PSPCL on a noting on file and forwarded the same to Rajinder Singh, Superintending Engineer (SE) for approval of senior MC officials. Rajinder Singh SE, didn’t verify the documents put up before him on file with regard to withdrawal of advance payments but forwarded the same for approval of Joint Commissioner, Additional Commissioner and Commissioner of MC.
The accused XEN and SE despite having knowledge of rules of their department, had misused their official positions and forwarded the case to higher officials for approval. Moreover, the Joint Commissioner, Additional Commissioner and Commissioner of MC, posted at that time, had approved these cases without checking/verifying the documents or facts on file.
The spokesperson revealed that after the approval of the MC Commissioner, the file for temporary advance amount was sent to then DCFA Pankaj Garg, incharge of accounts branch in the year 2021-2022, for release through the case-based system because the amount of advance payment was relating to 42 tubewell works.
It was the duty of DCFA to verify all the documents on file before making final disbursement of advance payments but he didn’t raise any objections and misused his authority. It was also found that the DCFA in conniving with the XEN and SE had passed the bills related to temporary advances and the amount was transferred in two bank accounts of MC.
He further stated that it was astonishing to find that accused Ranbir Singh XEN had got released the amount of Rs 3,16,58,421 in cash on different dates through self cheques from the MC accounts and misappropriated the funds in connivance of each other.
A case under section 13(1) and section 13(2) of prevention of corruption act and under section 409, 465, 466 467, 468, 471, 120-B of IPC has been registered against all the accused.
XEN Ranbir Singh would be produced before the court on Wednesday.
