Heads set to roll in culture dept for manipulating bills of artistes
On Friday, STF arrested an event manager for manipulating bills by forging signatures of the artistes in connivance with officers of the department
Authorities and employees of the culture department, as well as outsourced staff hired for arranging state government events, have come under the police scanner after the UP Special Task Force (STF) arrested a Kanpur-based event manager on Friday for manipulating bills related to payments made to artistes of these events.
The STF officials confirmed that the event manager, Neel Vijay Singh, manipulated bills by forging signatures of the artistes in connivance with some officers of the culture department. They said the accused specifically mentioned the name of an additional director rank official of the department involved in the racket.
A senior police official said that Singh will be further taken on police remand to interrogate him about other people involved in this fraud. He said the revelation made by Singh could expose the entire nexus of event managers, officials and employees of the culture department.
“We will also investigate different cultural events organised by the state government in the recent past. The list of artistes roped in for the events will be sought from the culture department to cross check payments made to them and what bill was approved,” a police official privy to the development said.
In a press note shared with the media, the STF officials stated that the investigation into the matter was initiated after receiving a complaint from a woman artiste accusing the event manager of manipulating bills made in her name and by forging her signatures.
The event manager was arrested for his direct involvement in manipulating bills of artistes after registering an FIR under appropriate sections of Bhartiya Nyay Sanhita at Gomti Nagar police station. It stated the connivance of culture department officials is yet to be established and further investigation in the case is on.
In the FIR, the woman alleged that she participated in Bharat-Nepal Maitri Mahotsav (Indo-Nepal Friendship Festival) organised in Bahraich in 2024. He said the event manager hired the artist to sing for ₹35,000, but paid her ₹30,000, while asking for a cancelled cheque to give the pending amount. The singer mentioned that she received an amount of ₹2,41,000 in her bank account after giving the cancelled cheque to the event manager.
The event manager threatened the artiste with dire consequences after she objected to transferring the amount to the event manager stating that it has come from the state government treasury and she will have to pay it back if the government demands the money back.
