Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, Oct 12: The State Vigilance Organisation (SVO) today conducted raids in the houses and office of two officials of Consumer Affairs and Public Distribution (CAPD) Department in connection with Rs 66.19 lakh worth misappropriation of funds during their posting at Mahore in Reasi district.
Raids were conducted in residence and office of Ghar Singh, Assistant Director, Udhampur and Ghulam Mohi-ud-Din, storekeeper, Bani, official sources said.
Ghar Singh was posted as TSO Mahore and Mohi-ud-Din as storekeeper Mahore at the time of misappropriation of funds in 2008-09.
Sources said Singh’s house was raided at Patoli Barahamana on Akhnoor Road along with his office at Udhampur while raids were conducted at Mohi-ud-Din’s house at Channi Rama by the Vigilance teams simultaneously this morning.
The raids continued throughout the day in the presence of Magistrate and independent witnesses.
Property related documents and some papers pertaining to the scam were seized during the raids, sources said.
Giving details, they said a case FIR No. 19/2012 under Section 5 (1) (d) read with Section 5 (2) Prevention of Corruption Act and 120-B RPC had been registered against Ghar Singh, the then TSO Chasana and Sungri in Mahore, Ghulam Mohi-ud-Din, the then storekeeper, Chasana, Abdul Hamid, the then storekeeper Sungri, Abdul Qayoom, Assistant Director, Ramesh Chander Bhagat, Assistant Director and Kulbir Singh, the then Accountant in the office of Assistant Director, CAPD Reasi.
The FIR was registered on the basis of verification conducted into the allegations pertaining to misappropriation of huge amounts with respect to disbursement of payments made to different ration dealers for carriage charges for dispatching ration to far flung areas.
They had withdrawn an amount of Rs 66.19 lakh with dishonest intentions by showing dispatches of Below Poverty Line (BPL) and Antodaya Awas Yojana (AAY) ration in excess to allotted quota to the respective dealers of far flung areas and, thus, misappropriated the carriage charges.
Investigations by the Vigilance Organisation revealed that Ghar Singh knowingly that fixed allotted quota was of BPL and AAY ration commodities manipulated records thereby showing excess distribution of BPL and AAY ration to 16 dealers of far flung areas.
Ghulam Mohi-ud-Din and Abdul Hamid, storekeepers in league with Ghar Singh manipulated records and released ration in excess of fixed and allotted quota showing payment of carriage charges to the dealers of their respective jurisdiction in cash despite the direction to pay the amount through cheques/bank accounts, thus, misappropriating the carriage charges.
Investigations also revealed that Abdul Qayoom and Ramesh Chander Bhagat, Ads during their tenure released carriage charges in excess. Kulbir Singh released unjustified amount of on account of carriage.
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