Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, Oct 5: The Government has accorded sanction for the inquiry against a Senior Superintendent of Police and his subordinates in corrupt practices in vehicle hiring for Police Control Room (PCR) Srinagar.
The sanction was accorded to the Crime Branch of Police under the Prevention of Corruption Act for conducting inquiry against 10 police officials for their involvement in vehicle hiring scam.
These officials include SSP Zubair Ahmad Khan, ASP Farhat Jeelani, SDP Mushtaq Ahmad, SI Nisar Ahmad, Head Constables Abdul Rashid and Fareed Ahmad and constables Bilal Ahmad, Najamul Gani, Syed Tasweer and Tawseef Ahmad.
Police in July this year had sought sanction from the Government for Crime Branch inquiry against these officials under the Prevention of Corruption Act 1988.
An official said that the PCR Srinagar had hired private vehicles for ferrying the security forces and the officials have shown more than the actual number of the vehicles that were hired.
He said that some of the vehicles have been provided fuel against proper receipt from the petrol pump but were never used on the ground for security duty.
He said that the officials have swindled the money causing huge loss to the state exchequer. The preliminary inquiry into the scam was going on for several months and once it was established that the fraud has been committed, police sought sanction from the Government to formally conduct the inquiry against these officials.
This is the second scam in the PCR Srinagar in vehicle hiring. Earlier, few years back, the Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG) report presented in then State Assembly had revealed that an amount of Rs 4.04 crore was paid for hiring of buses, trucks and light motor vehicles during 2014 Parliamentary and Assembly elections in Jammu and Kashmir Police that turned out to be registered as scooters, motor cycles, non-commercial including small cars, tractors and bulldozers or were non-existent.
The multi-crore scam in the hiring of vehicles by the police during 2014 Parliamentary and Assembly elections was exclusively reported by the Excelsior in April 2016 and Police at that time had denied any wrong doings but later the CAG has established the fraud.
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