3 MC officials, contractor booked for misappropriating Rs 45 lakh in Panipat

Tribune News Service

Mukesh Tandon

Panipat, April 24

The CM flying squad has unearthed a corruption case involving misappropriation of Rs 45 lakh in the Panipat Municipal Corporation. Officials of the engineering wing of the MC, in connivance with a contractor, allegedly embezzled Rs 45 lakh by forging bills for constructing a drain in Ward 8.

Bills forged for drain project

• Officials of the engineering wing of the MC, in connivance with a contractor, allegedly embezzled Rs 45 lakh by making forged bills for the construction of a drain in Ward-8.
• It was found that MC officials had passed the estimate for 1,284.7-m work while on the ground, the total work found was of only 892 m, of which only 372-m work was done.
• But, the MC had made the payment by making a fake entry in MB of 1,290 meter to the contractor.

Following the recommendation of the flying squad, the police have booked three officers, including an Executive Engineer, Municipal Engineer and a Junior Engineer, besides the contractor, under various sections of the IPC.

Raj Singh, Sub-Inspector (SI), CM flying squad, in his complaint to the Quilla police, said the Panipat MC had allotted a tender of Rs 86.11 lakh to the The Amrit Co-operative L&C Society Limited, Buana Lakhu, for the construction of a disposal drain from Kochar Sweets to Shiv Chowk in Ward-8 in 2021. It is alleged that though the work is pending, the owner of the firm, Dilawar Singh Malik, in connivance with officers and employees of the MC, received a payment of Rs 54.81 lakh on February 21, 2022, and Rs 21.86 lakh on March 16, 2022.

After receiving a complaint against the payment made to the contractor without completion of the work, an inquiry was initiated into the matter after getting approval of the higher officials.

Record was collected from the MC and physical verification was conducted by SDO Praveen Chhikkara, JE Tarun Kumar of the PWD B&R during the inquiry in the presence of JE Manoj Kumar and contractor Dilwar Singh as per the measurement book (MB).

After the physical verification a report was prepared in which it was found that MC officials had passed the estimate of 1284.7-metre work while at the spot the total work is found of only 892 metres, of which only 372-metre work was done.

But, the MC had made the payment by making a fake entry in MB of 1290 metres to the contractor.

SI Raj Singh further said that during the investigation, it was found that XEn Naveen Kumar, ME Ajeet Kumar, JE Manoj Kumar, in connivance with contractor Dilawar Malik had made extra bill of 918-metre work, and misappropriated government funds to the tune of Rs 45 lakh. A case has been registered against them under Sections 409, 420, 467, 468, 471 and 120 B of the IPC and a probe is underway.

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