Five officials of the Delhi Jal Board have been arrested by the State Government’s Anti-Corruption Branch on charges of embezzling department funds.
According to a statement by the ACB on Tuesday, the engineers had shown on paper that repair work and replacement of pipeline fittings were done at the sewage pumping stations in Mandawali and Geeta Colony. However, investigators found that no work was done, but the contractor was paid.
“The accused have been arrested under relevant sections of the Indian Penal Code and we are in the process of identifying more officials who might have been part of the racket; no one will be spared,” S.S. Yadav, additional CP (ACB), told The Hindu.
Those arrested are Jal Board Chief Engineer Vijay Prakash; Executive Engineer Satya Pal Singh; Assistant Engineers Lokesh Kumar and Anil Gupta; and Junior Assistant Engineer Javed Ali Khan.
The ACB registered a case under Sections 420 (cheating), 409 (criminal breach of trust by a public servant) and 120-B (criminal conspiracy) of the IPC as well as provisions of the Prevention of Corruption Act.
During investigation, it was found that the officials had shown urgency in allotting tenders for the completion of repair work. The tender was awarded to a contractor of their choice at exorbitant rates.
They also forged documents to show two fake contractors who were ‘unable’ to carry out the work, so the contract was awarded to a person they favoured. Work orders for Rs.10 lakh each were issued in favour of the contractor.
It was also found that the work need not have been done on an urgent basis and thus there was no need to award the tender at a high rate.
