‘IAS officers involved in PDS scam should be removed’: Raman Singh

The two officers are former managing director of Nangrik Apurti Nigam (NAN) Anil Kumar Tujeja and former chairman Alok Shukla.

Former Chhattisgarh chief minster and national vice-president of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Raman Singh alleged that Bhupesh Baghel-led Congress government is trying to save two Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officers in multi-crore Public Distribution System (PDS) scam by weakening. Singh demanded their removal from current positions till the case is in court.

HT Image

Singh’s comments came during a press conference. He was referring to a news report published on Tuesday which claimed that the Enforcement Directorate (ED) informed the Supreme Court through an affidavit that Chhattisgarh chief minister Bhupesh Baghel, some members of the special investigating team investigating the PDS scam and a top law officer are allegedly trying to weaken the case against the two IAS officers involved in the PDS scam.

The two officers are former managing director of Nangrik Apurti Nigam (NAN) Anil Kumar Tujeja and former chairman Alok Shukla.

“It is very clear that the Congress government made several mistakes in the entire case. Congress government ordered a fresh SIT probe in the case where a chargesheet was already filed. They were also reports of pressuring investigation officer to bring in light new evidence. The officers (two IAS) for whom Congress wrote a letter to the Prime Minister demanding strict action on them so much so as asking that these officers should be put in jail… But now when they are in power, they are weakening their cases and did nothing against them,” said Raman Singh citing the media report.

“We demand that both the officers in question should be removed from their position and the government should stop interfering in the cases that are in Chhattisgarh high court,” said Singh.

On the other hand, Congress claimed that the Central government is misusing central agencies for political purposes and the allegations against the state agencies are politically motivated.

“This is a clear misuse of central agencies by the Union government... They are using the ED for political purposes in a Congress-run state. Secondly, as far as Raman Singh is concerned, he is the one who weakened the investigation of the NAN scam... Raman Singh should first answer who was ‘CM madam’ in the dairy found during the PDS scam. The central government had approved the prosecution of these two officers in 2016, what were the reasons for him to wait for two years till 2018 when they were charge-sheeted?” said Shailesh Nitin Trivedi, Congress’s state communication head.

Nan scam came into light in 2014 when the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) conducted raids in various parts of the state and seized cash and documents. The ACB also recovered coded diary entries of pay-offs to officials and politicians.

Then in opposition, the Congress party claimed that the scam is about ₹36,000 crore and further alleged the involvement of BJP leaders.

In 2015, a PIL was filed by Sudeep Shrivastava in Chhattisgarh high court demanding an SIT investigation in the case. Shrivastava in his PIL alleged the investigating agency saved few officers who were involved in the scam.

The PIL which was filed by Shrivastava stated that 111 samples of 254 samples of rice and out of 185 samples of salt 64 samples were found to be sub-standard and unfit for human consumption but were cleared by officers.

“The mega PDS scam has deep roots in Chhattisgarh. The so-called welfare scheme to provide cheap rice has been envisaged in a manner to have enough cushions for corruption. In September 2013, the total number of below poverty line (BPL) ration cards was 70.67 lakh against 56.11 of total families as per the 2011 census. Moreover, the iodized salt supplied under PDS was found unfit for human consumption risking the lives of innocent people. During the rule of Raman Singh, the ACB ensured that investigation doesn’t reach the CM and ministers despite clear evidence of money trail, now in Bhupesh-regime, the ACB tries to save these charge-sheeted IAS officers,” said Shrivastava, a lawyer and activist who filed a PIL in this case, adding that it is an irony that Chhattisgarh high court, in last 6 years, could not decide PILs seeking an independent court-monitored probe into this huge scam.

Shrivastava further said that the empathy of the Congress regime to these two officers is beyond understanding considering the fact that one of them, Shukla, got retired in July 2020 but the cabinet appointed him on a contractual basis for three more years on the same day despite the corruption charge-sheet against him.

Shukla, refused to comment over the current development and the transcript submitted by the ED.

Meanwhile, a senior ACB officer commenting over the transcript said that the said transcript was based on a seizure of the IT department raid in 2020.

“Since then, everything in ACB and EOW has changed. Now, new men are leading the state agencies,” said the officer.