Amritsar Improvement Trust scam is over ₹37 crore: Cops
Accounts of key accused Daman Bhalla; scam amount could balloon to ₹80 cr
AMRITSAR: The status report of the Amritsar Improvement Trust (AIT) scam has so far unveiled the scam of ₹37.18 crore, police said. Police will now conduct a forensic audit of the accounts.
The scam was perpetrated by opening illegal accounts in the the name of the improvement trust, but the records of these were not entered in the cash book of the department.
Meanwhile, the amount of financial bungling is likely to grow over ₹80 crore as the police are checking the accounts of Daman Bhalla, the key accused in the money bungling case.
Bhalla was the deputy controller of finance and accounts (DCFA) of the Amritsar Improvement Trust and was arrested on October 23 while he was going to meet his mother at Shastri Nagar locality here.
The case was registered by the city police on September 10 after chief vigilance office of the local bodies department unearthed the scam during investigations.
Other six accused in the case are Arvind Sharma, DC Garg, Paramjit Singh, Tina Vohra, CA Sanjay Kapoor and bill clerk Satnam Singh.
Except Satnam Singh who was granted bail by the Punjab and Haryana high court, all five accused are on the run.
“Around ₹31 crore cash withdrawals have been unearthed through these five-six fake accounts. They used to siphon the interest on the FDs earned from these accounts. After demonetisation, ₹1.36 crore were siphoned through demand drafts. The accused used to make DDs of less than ₹2 lakh each time in order to dodge income the tax department,” said SS Srivastava, police commissioner, Amritsar.
The police also recovered ₹4.98 crorefrom one of Bhalla’s accounts.
They say the accounts of the accused have been seized.
Moreover, it has been learnt that the accused acquired five properties worth ₹11 crore out of which, four are in the name of his wife.
The planning behind the scam commenced in 2011 but the financial bungling was initiated between 2013-17, claimed Srivastava.
“No formal audit was conducted after 2011 facilitating the accused but now a forensic audit will be initiated. The whole staff is under the scanner. We are also going to initiate an audit for a ₹797 crore scheme which was launched by the accused for the development project in Ranjit Avenue,” the commissioner said.
On the other hand, local bodies minister Navjot Singh Sidhu addressing mediapersons in Amritsar and congratulated the police for exposing the scam and arresting the accused.
“Police needs to be given a free hand and there should not be any political interference. The previous government facilitated the accused to indulge in corruption as no audit was initiated in the past 10 years in the department. Money will be returned to the public by seizing the properties of the accused,” Sidhu said.
“The structure needs to be in place. No action was taken despite receiving 631 queries against the functioning of the department. Now everyone will be made accountable through audits,” added Sidhu.
According to the police, executive officer Arvind Sharma signed 57 cheques, DC Garg signed 55 cheques and Paramjit signed three cheques.
The accused transferred the money in their family members’ accounts.
The accused used to deposit money pertaining to the Amritsar Improvement Trust in forged bank accounts opened in the name of the trust. They would then withdraw the amount on the pretext of spending on various works such as disbursal of salaries and other “public friendly” tasks.
Cheques amounting to ₹15.16 crore were issued from this account for issuing pay orders.
Two pay orders were issued to Satnam Singh, clerk, and one pay to Bhalla’s father Narinder Nath, the police said.