July 5, 2017 by admin

Probe findings: Ex-BDPO, 4 others siphoned off Rs1 cr

Gurdaspur, A probe conducted by the district administration has indicted a former Batala BDPO (Block Development and Panchayat Officer) and four members of his staff for siphoning off funds meant for rural development. The inquiry officer, ADC (Development) Jagwinderjit Singh Sandhu, today submitted his report to the Financial Commissioner-cum Secretary, Rural Development. A police officer said a case would be registered under Section 409 (criminal breach of trust by public servant, punishable with life imprisonment) of the IPC against then BDPO Malkit Singh, revenue officials Azad Masih, Jaspal Singh Bhullar and Inderjit Singh and clerk Gurpinder Kaur. As per the probe report, Malkit opened an account in a private bank in which the state government later parked funds. However, the BDPO and his staff withdrew cash from the bank in an unauthorised manner and pocketed about Rs1.44 crore in the past 15 months. The BDPO used 90 bearer cheques to withdraw the money. Jagwinderjit said: “Initially, I suspected that bank officials were also involved. However, no proof of financial bungling on their part has surfaced. This scam has occurred in one block, but now I have been directed to extend the probe to other blocks of the district.” The embezzled funds were meant for improving water supply, sanitation and sewerage facilities in villages of the Batala block. Refuting the allegations, Malkit said: “The money withdrawn was handed over to sarpanches.”