An inquiry by Deputy Secretary Chandra Prakash into the incident have not pinpointed those involved in the irregularities following which the Ministry has approached police last month seeking a proper criminal investigation into the issue, a senior police official said here today.
A case of cheating and forgery was registered yesterday into the irregularities which came to light during a meeting on August 17 last year when some members of the Expert panel brought to the notice of the Ministry there were six cases in the "list of recommended cases" which they have not suggested.
In his complaint, Under Secretary B P Bhuker said the evaluation sheets on seven cases containing recommendations of the Expert Committee relating to applications for production grants under the scheme of financial assistance to professional groups and individuals were replaced.
During the meeting, the experts pointed out that six cases from Odisha relating to production grant which were rejected by them in the meeting held on April last year have found place in the "list of recommended cases" in the minutes, Bhuker said.
"They insisted that all the six cases were marked as 'Not Recommended' in red ink," he said. These cases were related to five groups based in Naupada in Odisha and an individual from Ganjam.
In another case of an individual from Naupada, Bhuker said experts have recommended Rs 50,000, whereas the approved amount has been shown as Rs two lakh.
All the files were examined and the experts had told the ministry that the evaluation sheets in all these seven cases have been changed as none of these carry of the signatures of the experts, he claimed.
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Following this, the Ministry stopped payment in all the seven cases as well as removed the entire staff, except Under Secretary and Section Officers from Performing Arts Section.
Bhuker said the inquiry conducted by the Ministry could not identity anyone who might be responsible for the fraud.
"Since, some fraud has undoubtedly taken place, need for further investigation has been felt. Accordingly, the Ministry has decided to register an FIR," he said.
Following an investigation, police have decided to register a case.