10 people, including BDPO, booked for embezzlement of funds

Ten people were today booked by the police on charges of embezzlement of funds of the rural development grant to the tune of Rs 1.44 crore here.
The Additional Deputy Commissioner-Development, Jagwinderjit Singh Sandhu, has lodged a complaint with the police in connection with the alleged embezzlement in the Block Development and Panchayat Officer's (BDPO) office at Batala recently.
The then BDPO Malkiat Singh, block samiti patwari Inderjit Singh, three panchayat secretaries -- Sandeep Singh, Jaspal Singh and Azad Masih-- are among those booked in the case, the police said.
Besides them, three clerks -- Gurpinder Singh, Amarjit Singh and Tejinder Singh-- and two owners of a private firm face charges, they said.

They have been booked under various sections of the IPC and the Corruption Act, police said, adding the accused are absconding.
The alleged embezzlement to the tune of Rs 1.44 crore in the BDPO's office at Batala came to the light recently, they said.

The amount was provided by the Finance Commission of India for spending under the 2011 Census programme. The alleged scam was detected by a high-level probe committee of revenue officials.
The probe was instituted by Gurdaspur Deputy Commissioner Amit Kumar following a number of complaints received by the administration during the tenure of the SAD-BJP government.

The Batala BDPO's officewas allocated the amount under the 13th and 14th Finance Commission to further allocate the grant to the rural development purpose, the Additional Deputy Commissioner said.
Malkiat used to place cheques in his name, employees, private persons and private firms and pocket the money on his own, Sandhu said.
The inquiry committee has found gross violations in BDPO office records, he said, adding the grants issued to the different panchayats had not been entered in any cash books that determine its distribution.
According to the instructions of the government, it is necessary to register details regarding the amounts allocated in the cash book every month, Sandhu said.

This was not found in order at the Batala's BDPO office, he said.