Bengaluru, March 19 (DHNS): CID sleuths on Saturday raided nine places belonging to seven officers involved in the Rs 39.38 crore scam in the minor irrigation department in Kushtagi in Koppal district. The raids were conducted in Bengaluru, Vijayapura, Kolar, Mysuru, Ballari, Davangere and Kushtagi.
Five teams comprising 50 staff seized documents including bank passbooks, bank locker keys, vehicles, jewellery, sites, houses and electronic goods. Names of the officers whose premises were raided are: Premanand Kumar, executive engineer, A D Jadhav, technical assistant, Doddabasayya, accounts superintendent, B Shivakumar, S Manohar, M H Pawar, assistant executive engineers and Chandrashekhar F Kalaburagi, first division clerk. Large-scale irregularities took place in the department in Kushtagi division between October 2015 and January 2016.
Fake bills submitted
The suspects had connived with contractors, flouted norms and indulged in irregularities. They did not invite tenders, did not inform senior officers about piece works, prepared approximate budgets at division and sub-division levels, created and submitted fake bills and claimed funds, said the police.
After the incident came to light, a case of fraud and cheating was registered at the Kushtagi police station. The case was handed over to the CID on November 19, 2016. The sleuths visited several places where the piece works were believed to have been carried out in nine taluks in Raichur and Koppal districts. The suspects had created 3,938 fake bills, each bill showing less than Rs 1 lakh. They had also created 154 fake bills for Rs 1 lakh, total amounting Rs 1.54 crore. They had just cleared some bushes in those places and had not carried out any works, added the police. The officers, based on the bills, had transferred funds to the contractors’ bank accounts.