₹1.7-crore scam unearthed in Jalandhar co-op society

TARLOCHAN SINGH, SECY OF COOPERATIVE AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY, PACHRANGA, BOOKED

JALANDHAR: Police and the cooperative department have uncovered a Rs 1.7-crore scam in Co-operative Agricultural Society, Pachranga, in Bhogpur subdivision of Jalandhar district.

Tarlochan Singh, the secretary of the society, has been booked for committing embezzlement of funds.

The development comes five months after a Rs 70-lakh scam was reported in Loharan cooperative secretary in the same subdivision. The secretary of Loharan society, who had committed the fraud, had gone absconding and the department had given the additional charge of the society to Tarlochan.

However, it came to the notice of cooperative department officials last month that the accused was not depositing the loan amount of farmers associated with the Pachranga society in their bank accounts.

“After assuming charge of Loharan society, Tarlochan remained absent since August 30 and he was suspended on September 14 from both the posts. Later, an inquiry was conducted and officials found that the accused issued statements of fixed deposits (FDs) of farmers without depositing money in their accounts, causing a scam of over Rs 1.7 crore,” the first information report (FIR) filed against Tarlochan Singh states.

Assistant sub-inspector (ASI) Sukhwinder Singh, who is inquiry officer (IO) in the case, said the statements of loan and other accounts were issued by the society to farmers, but the accused never deposited money in the accounts and no entries were made in the account books.

He said a case has been registered against the accused under Section 409 (criminal breach of trust) and the state government has ordered an audit of records of the society. He said passport officials have been asked not to give the accused visa of any country.

Narinder Nath, a society member, said fixed deposit receipts (FDRs) and other receipts were issued to local farmers by the secretary, but he never deposited any money in their bank accounts.

Surinder Singh (72), a farmer, said when he and some other farmers contacted the society, they found that the receipts were fictitious and amounts were never deposited in their bank accounts and the cooperative bank under which the society worked.