The Central Bureau of Investigation on Friday registered cases against six former and incumbent Rajya Sabha MPs for purportedly making full claims on heavily discounted Air India companion tickets. They had allegedly furnished fake e-tickets arranged through three Delhi-based travel agencies.
Among the accused sitting MPs are Lalhming Liana of the Mizo National Front, D. Bandopadhyay of Trinamool Congress and Brajesh Pathak of the Bahujan Samaj Party.
Cases have also been registered against former Rajya Sabha members JPN Singh of the Bharatiya Janata Party, Mahmood A. Madani of the Rashtriya Lok Dal and Renu Bala Pradhan of the Biju Janata Dal.
“It is alleged that Mr. Liana furnished bills for seven companion tickets showing a total expenditure of Rs.3.14 lakh. However, he had paid only Rs.26,000 for the same. While Mr. Bandopadhyay claimed a refund of Rs.1.28 lakh for four tickets against actual payment of Rs.2,000, Mr. Pathak submitted bills for eight tickets claiming Rs.2.2 lakh against actual payment of Rs.10,000,” said a CBI official.
CBI probe revealed that JPN Singh allegedly claimed a refund of Rs.1.97 lakh for six tickets, whereas he had paid only Rs.6,500 to the airline; and Mr. Madani allegedly submitted nine bills for Rs.5.80 lakh against actual payment of Rs.6,000 for the companion tickets. “Ms. Pradhan had paid only Rs.5,600 for four such tickets, but claimed a refund of Rs.1.62 lakh,” said the official.
Accordingly, the CBI has registered cases of corruption, criminal conspiracy, cheating and forgery besides falsification of accounts by the six accused and others.
“Searches have been carried out at the premises of the accused persons and three travel agents at 10 places in Delhi and Odisha,” said CBI spokesperson Kanchan Prasad.
As earlier reported by The Hindu, the agency has also identified seven other (former and sitting) MPs who had also made false Leave Travel Concession (LTC) claims. “Since, they had committed the offence only once, as per the guidelines on petty offences, we decided not to press charges against them and instead recommended appropriate action by the Rajya Sabha Secretariat,” said another official.
Last November, the CBI had registered a case of cheating, forgery and falsification of accounts against the then Janata Dal (United) Rajya Sabha MP Anil Kumar Sahani for allegedly attempting to avail himself of Rs.9.5 lakh as LTC on invalid air tickets in conspiracy with a travel agency and an Air India employee. “Names of the other MPs cropped up during a probe into that case,” the official added.
Investigations into the suspected false LTC claims began in August last year after 600 blank Air India boarding passes were seized from a passenger at Kolkata airport last March. On a recommendation from the Central Vigilance Commission, the CBI then instituted a preliminary inquiry.
