Ludhiana: SDO among 3 PSPCL staffers booked for ₹5.65-crore embezzlement

The accused in embezzlement case have been identified as SDO Chhinder Pal Singh, junior engineer Daljit Singh and lineman Ajit Pal Singh

The Sadar Raikot police booked a sub-divisional officer (SDO) among three staffers of Punjab State Power Corporation Limited (PSPCL) for ₹5.65-crore embezzlement. All three staffers were already suspended from the service.

An FIR under Sections 409 and 120-B of the IPC has been lodged against the accused. (iStock)

The accused have been identified as SDO Chhinder Pal Singh, junior engineer Daljit Singh and lineman Ajit Pal Singh.

The FIR has been lodged following the statement of Kulwant Singh, additional superintending engineer. The FIR has been lodged following an investigation.

As per preliminary investigation, the officials defrauded the power regulator over a period of two years. Investigations into the case revealed that a temporary connection of 10 KW was running in the name of Varun Bansal for an under-construction cinema hall in the Raikot subdivision.

Following a complaint regarding the illegal connection in the Raikot subdivision, it was found that a low tension (LT) cable measuring 270 metre of PSPCL mark was being used for which no money was deposited for this outgoing cable to the concerned subdivision.

After the matter came to light, the cable was removed, and the JE denied any information and stated that the cable concerned was not provided by him to the consumer.

On further inquiry, it came to light that the cable was provided by lineman Ajitpal Singh of adjacent subdivision Bassian who paid ₹7,000 for two months till he got regular connection and also produced an affidavit in this regard.

On the basis of inquiry, further investigation of Bassian subdivision was conducted and it was found that the material was drawn by Daljit Singh.

It was then found that material worth a whopping ₹5.65 crore has been drawn for domestic connections totaling 700 for a period of 24 months from January 1, 2021, to December 31, 2022. According to PSPCL officials, the amount of material drawn for connections in this period on an average amounts from ₹25 to ₹30 lakh.

A senior official of PSPCL stated that they are further investigating the details of all 700 connections provided over a period of two years by the suspended officials and further action will be taken accordingly.

ASI Gurmel Singh said that an FIR under Sections 409 and 120-B of the IPC has been lodged against the accused. A hunt is on for their arrest.