CBI CONDUCTS SEARCHES AT AROUND 110 LOCATIONS IN 19 STATES/UNION TERRITORIES IN SEPARATE CASES

CBI CONDUCTS SEARCHES AT AROUND 110 LOCATIONS IN 19 STATES/UNION TERRITORIES IN SEPARATE CASES

In a nation wide action, CBI conducted searches at around 110 places in 19 States/Union Territories in around 30 separate cases relating to corruption, criminal mis-conduct and arms. The places include Delhi; Bharatpur; Mumbai; Chandigarh; Jammu; Srinagar; Pune; Jaipur; Goa; Kanpur; Raipur; Hyderabad; Madurai; Kolkata; Rourkela; Ranchi; Bokaro; Lucknow and other places in Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand; Odisha; Himachal Pradesh; Punjab; Haryana; Andhra Pradesh; Karnataka and Bihar.

In one of the cases, the premises of accused persons were searched in a matter related to sale of sugar mills of UP State Sugar Corporation, including private persons as well as retired senior public servants at Lucknow; Saharanpur; Ghaziabad; New Delhi and Barabanki.

03 separate cases were registered against 03 then Deputy Commissioners of Customs, Drawback Section, Nhava Sheva and other private persons on the allegations of abusing their official positions, which resulted into illegal disbursal of drawback amount of Rs.2 crore(approx.), Rs.3.5 crore(approx.) and Rs.1 crore(approx.).

Another case was registered on the orders of Madhya Pradesh High Court on the allegations that 06 accused persons & unknown others have cheated the complainant by way of executing fake Sale Deed for 980 acres of land in Distict-Chhindwara(MP) using various forged govt. seals and forged govt. stamp papers and in the process, the accused persons misappropriated Rs.11.51 crore(approx.) and caused wrongful loss to the complainant. Searches were conducted at 06 places including Indore; Bhopal; Chhindwara and Betul.

Another case was registered on the orders of Rajasthan High Court. It was alleged by the petitioner/complainant that her son, age more than 17 years, was missing from her home since 23.08.2015. She had expressed suspicion regarding abduction of her son by her husband and one other person (her abducted son’s friend). Searches were conducted at Mumbai and Bharatpur.

In another case, searches were conducted at the premises of then Branch Manager, SBI, Shivalik Nagar Branch, Haridwar on the allegations that the accused hatched a conspiracy along with others and sanctioned 13 housing loans worth Rs.3.09 crore(approx.) without observing required formalities as laid down in the bank norms. All these housing loans have been declared as NPA.

A case was also registered against then Branch Manager, Punjab National Bank, Meerut Road Branch, Ghaziabad and others on the allegations of opening of current account of a Ghaziabad based firm by flouting KYC norms of the Bank and deposited invalid specified Bank Notes of the denomination of Rs.500/- and Rs.1000/- amounting to Rs.58,50,000/- during the period of demonetisation (year 2015-16). Searches were conducted at Ghaziabad and Bulandshahar in Uttar Pradesh.

In another case, searches were conducted at 11 places, including Srinagar, Udhampur, Jammu at the locations of private gun houses in an on-going investigation of two arms licence cases registered on the consent of J&K government.

In yet another matter, a case was registered against then Manager Iewduh Branch, Shillong on the allegations that the accused in collusion with private persons/borrowers/guarantors, while sanctioning and disbursing various credit facilities to 114 borrowers, amounting to Rs.14.33 crore(approx.) which subsequently became Non Performing Asset(NPA) caused a huge loss to Meghalaya Rural Bank(MRB). Searches were conducted at 07 places including Shillong and East Khasi Hills.

A case was registered against the then Assistant Development Officer (Khadi), KVIC, Jammu and the then Accountant, KVIC, Jammu. The accused during the period from 2010-11 to 2015-16 entered into a conspiracy with Chairperson and Secretary of a private craft society based at Mankey Talab, Kathua (J&K) and cheated the Government to the tune of Rs. 17.73 lakh (approx.) on the pretext of executing programme of Govt. of India under Ministry of MSME (Micro Small and Medium Enterprises) in respect of Marketing Development Assistance (MDA) scheme, purportedly executing the same on paper only, on the basis of forged and fabricated documents. Searches were conducted at Kathua (J&K).

A case has been registered against then CEO, Bokaro Steel Plant and five other officials including GM, DGM of Bokaro Steel Plant and other private persons. It was alleged that the then CEO had demanded and accepted an illegal gratification of about Rs. 29 lakh for the marriage of his daughter and other purposes from the proprietor of a Tent House in Bokaro through then DGM. The said public servants and private persons entered into a criminal conspiracy with dishonest intention to raise false/bogus bills purportedly showing to have done the work for Bokaro Steel Plant. It was further alleged that the accused officials fraudulently made illegal payments to the said persons/ firms thereby causing wrongful loss to the tune of Rs. 31.24 lakh (approx.) to the Government Exchequer. It was also alleged that no proposal for seeking the services mentioned in the false bills were taken on the files and no tender process for the same was done by officials of Bokaro Steel Plant. Searches were conducted at various locations in Ranchi, Kolkata, Rourkela and Bokaro.

A case was also registered on a complaint from Andhra Bank against a private company based at Industrial-cum-Business Park, Phase-II, Chandigarh, its Proprietor and others. It was alleged that the said private company engaged in trading of PET resin, plastic bottles, PP caps etc. was sanctioned OCC Limit of Rs.11.75 crore on 23.10.2015 which was renewed on 31.03.2017. It was further alleged that the firm diverted the funds by transferring the amounts to sister concerns maintaining accounts with other banks from time to time. The account was classified as NPA by the Bank on 31.03.2018 and an amount of Rs.12.41 crore (approx.) was outstanding on 31.03.2018. Searches have been conducted at Industrial-cum-Business Park, Phase-II, Chandigarh; Manimajra, Chandigarh; SAS Nagar (Punjab); Mandi Dabwali, Sirsa; District Mukatsar; Baddi, Distt. Solan (HP).

In another case, searches were conducted at Tehsil Nurpur, Kangra; Chamba(HP); District Una; Nahan, District Sirmour(HP) in an ongoing investigation of a case related to award of scholarships to the students of Himachal Pradesh belonging to SC, ST and OBC categories during the years 2013 to 2017. The State Government earlier registered the case on the complaints made by the parents and wards for non-receipt of scholarship to the entitled students. The magnitude of the amount involved was more than Rs. 250 crore (approx.)

Searches were conducted at eleven places including Delhi/NCR in an ongoing investigation of a case. It has been alleged that a private company/NGO has received a foreign contribution of Rs.90.72 crore. An interest of Rs. 6.69 crore was also accrued on this foreign contribution. The company has misused and misappropriated the foreign contribution from the intended purpose for which it was received.

In another case searches were conducted at Delhi and Panipat at the premises of then Inspector, Narcotics Control Bureau, Delhi and a private person in an ongoing investigation of a case related to alleged bribery.

In an ongoing investigation of a case related to then Chief Minister of Haryana & also then Minister in-charge of Directorate of Town and Country Planning, Haryana and others including then Chief Administrator, HUDA and also then Director, Urban Estate & Director, Town and Country Planning, Haryana and other unknown private persons and public servants. It was alleged that during the years 2007 to 2012, colonizer companies and unknown others, dishonestly and fraudulently entered into a criminal conspiracy with intent to cheat related land owners, public at large and the state of Haryana/HUDA( now known as HSVP), by way of getting issued notification U/s. 4 and subsequently U/s. 6 of Land Acquisition Act, 1894, purchasing lands of related landowners at lesser price and fraudulently and dishonestly obtaining licenses on the notified land and to cause loss to related land owners, public at large and the state of Haryana/HUDA( now known as HSVP) and corresponding wrongful gain to themselves. Searches were conducted at the premises of a private company at Delhi.

A case was also registered against then CMD, British India Corporation Limited (BICL), Kanpur, then Company Secretary, BICL and other unknown persons. It was alleged that accused persons of BICL, Kanpur have committed irregularities/manipulation in tender documents in order to facilitate the sale of British India Corporation Limited (BICL) properties to the selected persons at price lower than the market rate. Searches have been conducted at five different places including Kanpur, Lucknow & Chandigarh.

Searches were conducted at eight places in the States of Telengana, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Karnataka. Separate cases were registered against Superintendent of Anti Evasion Wing, Hyderabad GST Commissionerate for possession of disproportionate assets; the other case pertains to misappropriation of funds of S.C. Railways in the office of Principal Financial Advisor where certain Railway officials of the rank of Superintendents and Accounts officers were involved; another case related to trap against GM (Technical) of National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) and another DA case against Assistant Executive Engineer, S.W. Railways, Hubli.

Searches are still underway in some cases.

Investigation is in progress.