Faridabad BDPO, firm owner held for ₹28-crore panchayat embezzlement

The duo was produced before a court in Faridabad on Wednesday after which Lal was forwarded to judicial custody while ACB got two-day police remand of Sharma for her interrogation.

A block development and panchayat officer (BDPO) and a private firm owner were arrested on Tuesday for allegedly embezzling ₹28 crore of public money by clearing forged bills for development projects that only existed on paper in Tigaon block of Faridabad, Haryana anti-corruption bureau (ACB) officials said on Wednesday.

Officials said Sharma reactivated frozen panchayat accounts in 2020 and cleared bills for works never executed, siphoning crores into private accounts. (File photo)

The arrested suspects were Puja Sharma, BDPO of Tigaon block from September 2020 to April 2021, and Hira Lal, owner of a plantation firm. While Sharma was remanded to two days of police custody for interrogation, Lal was sent to judicial custody after being produced before a Faridabad court on Wednesday.

At least 10 more suspects, including officiating sarpanch Brahm Pal, panchayat secretary Jogender Kumar of Mujeri panchayat, and Sharma’s brother Lalit Mohan Sharma, are yet to be arrested, ACB officials said. Sharma, who was serving as BDPO of Punhana block in Nuh at the time, was apprehended there by an ACB team.

A senior ACB official said Sharma masterminded the scam. “She and Pal had taken kickbacks in their personal accounts from all the beneficiaries, mostly the owners of nine different firms, including the BDPO’s brother and Hira Lal, in whose favour forged bills were cleared first,” he said. The arrests were made after obtaining approval from senior authorities “looking at the strong evidence,” the official added.

According to investigators, the Haryana Development and Panchayat department director had frozen all Mujeri panchayat bank accounts after erstwhile sarpanch Rani Kumari was booked for irregularities worth ₹2.32 crore during her tenure from 2016 to 2019. However, Sharma allegedly reactivated the accounts in October 2020, shortly after taking charge in Tigaon, in connivance with Pal.

Investigators said Sharma and Pal then roped in at least nine persons, including her brother, who owned construction and plantation firms. With the help of the panchayat secretary, they forged documents and bills to show projects such as road repairs, plantation, and public utilities, even though no permissions or estimates were taken and no work was done.

One ACB official cited a ₹43 lakh payment made to Lal’s plantation firm during the winter of 2020 “when such activity could not take place due to low temperatures,” adding that the bills were cleared after June 2021. Sharma also allegedly cleared a ₹1.5 crore payment to Rasik Bihari Infratech & Construction Pvt Ltd, a firm owned by her brother, despite no work being carried out. Soon after, ₹9.2 lakh was transferred to Sharma’s personal account as commission, officials said. Similar kickbacks were received from other firms, with Pal also benefitting, they added.

Officials said the scam was flagged in 2022 by activist Satbir Kaparia, who alleged that it occurred during the Covid-19 pandemic when oversight was weak. Based on his complaint, a case was registered at Sadar Ballabgarh police station on October 16, 2022, for criminal breach of trust by a public servant, cheating, and criminal conspiracy, before being transferred to ACB in 2023.

Police added that Sharma is also a co-accused with sacked sarpanch Rani in the ₹2.32-crore embezzlement case registered in 2021, related to her earlier tenure as Tigaon BDPO between March and September 2019. She had been on anticipatory bail in that case.