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Foodgrain transportation scam: VB books five contractors, govt officials
A vigilance bureau spokesperson said officials of the state food and civil supplies department, who acted in connivance with the contractors by granting them the tenders for foodgrain markets in Jaito and Kotakpura in the district have also been booked along with the concerned procurement agencies
The Punjab vigilance bureau on Friday booked five contractors for allegedly procuring transportation tenders for grain markets in Faridkot district by submitting fake registration numbers of vehicles, according to an official statement.
A spokesperson of the bureau said that officials of the state food and civil supplies department, who acted in connivance with the contractors by granting them the tenders for grain markets in Jaito and Kotakpura in the district have also been booked along with the concerned procurement agencies.
He said that an FIR under section 420, 409, 467, 468, 471, 120-B of the IPC and under sections of the Prevention of Corruption Act, has been registered against contractors Rishu Mittal, Pawan Kumar, Vishu Mittal, Prem Chand and Yogesh Gupta at police station vigilance bureau range, Ferozepur.
The role of the remaining accused and other suspects would be probed in further investigations, he added.
The contractors had provided fake registration numbers of vehicles in the lists attached to the transportation tenders submitted in the year 2019-20, the statement said.
“During verification of the facts in the tenders, the district tender committee of food and civil supplies department should have rejected the technical bid of the concerned contractors which was not done. The investigation clearly shows collusion between the concerned officials and employees and the contractors to allot the tenders,” he said.
“The registration numbers of many vehicles recorded in the gate passes issued by the procurement agencies during the transportation of food grains by the above said contractors belong to motorcycles and mini buses and the goods could not be transported on such vehicles,” he said.
The spokesperson said that during the investigation of registration numbers of the said vehicles as well as details of the quantity of food grains mentioned in these gate passes, it was a prima facie case of fake reporting and embezzlement of food grains.
He said that the officers and employees of the department as well as procurement agencies had paid the bills to the contractors on the basis of such gate passes without verifying them.
Arthiya sent to 3-day police custody
The court remanded commission agent (Arthiya) Krishan Lal alias Dhoti Wala to three days in the vigilance custody in the ₹2,000 crore food grain transportation scam. The vigilance also claimed that he was involved in bogus billing related to irregularities in tenders. He was arrested on Thursday following which a total of ₹12 lakh was also recovered from his possession. It was the third arrest in the case. Earlier, the Vigilance bureau had arrested a contractor Telu Ram and former cabinet minister Bharat Bhushan Ashu.
