Chandigarh : Haryana Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) led by Shatrujit Kapoor Director General Police Haryana busted a major ftaud in the Integrated Cooperative Development Project (ICDP) exposed frauds of value suspected worth over Rs 100 crore in which several persons including 15 state government officers and four private individuals have been arrested so far and still many more are suspected to be trapped in the frauds net yet are on ACB radar. Information reveals that two senior managers of Cooperative Bank at Panipat GM Sanjay Hooda and an AR Jitender Kaushik have been suspended alleggdl embezzlements of grant. On Tuesday late evening Dr Banwari Lal, Minister of the department met Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar and submitted tsatus report of this scam, who said that ruling government in the state working on zero tolerance and will take stern action against the corrupt officers in this scam having the names of several officers likely to be suspended or terminated from the services.
ACB team during investigation, exposed the scam where assistant registrars and district registrars of co-operative societies allegedly misappropriated government funds for self-vested interest, misused government funds deposited in their accounts either to purchase luxuary vehicles flats, plots and other personal assets and there were many cases in which these corrupt officers transferred money in the bank accounts of their relatives and few were managing to flee abroad. Vigilance investigation revealed that there were cases in which officers of co-operative departments created fake societies and self-help groups in the names of their relatives to earn money. According to the report submitted by ACB out of 14 senior officers arrested allegedly involved in corruption five have been suspended and the service of one has been terminated. DGP Haryana Shatrujit Kapoor said that while taking action or arrest of an officer decision is taken after updating the Chief Minister.
Information also reveals that the officials involved in this scam attempted to cover their tracks by forging government documents and bank details and cases have been registered under various sections in Karnal and Ambala range, DGP Kapoor said that as per instructions by the Chief Minister no one involved in corrupt parctices in the state should be spared. According to a spokesperson of the department among those arrested include Audit Officer Balvinder, Deputy Chief Auditor Yogendra Aggarwal; District Registrar of Cooperative Societies Karnal Rohit Gupta; Assistant Registrar of Cooperative Societies Anu Koshish, Ram Kumar, Jitendra Kaushik and Krishna Beniwal, ICDP-Rewari’s Accountant Sumit Aggarwal, Development Officer Nitin Sharma and Vijay Singh. Among private individuals include Stalin Jeet also having a branch office in Canada, Natasha Kaushik, Subhash and Rekha. All those against whom cases have been registered are currently in the police custody.
The Cooperation Department of Haryana operates the Integrated Cooperative Development Project, focusing on development in rural and agricultural areas through various programmes and the development of co-operative societies. ACB team during a raid at the District Registrar office Karnal on Friday collected several doubtful papers related to ICDP scam. ACB team arrested Assistant Registrar of Kaithal Cooperative Society Jitender KJaushik allegedly involved in a grant scam worth Rs 4 crore 40 lakh in 2021-22 preparing fake bills who was also remanded to police custody. According to sources, they were planning to run away to some foreign country with the cash. At the request of the investigative team, cases have been registered against the accused under various Sections in the Karnal and Ambala range. In the first satge ACB detained six gazetted officers, four employees from ICDP, Rewari, and four private citizens.
The accused, who have been arrested are audit officer Balwinder, assistant registrar cooperative societies Anu Koshish, Karnal district registrar cooperative societies Rohit Gupta, deputy chief auditor Yogendra Aggarwal, Ram Kumar, Jitendra Kaushik and Krishna Beniwal. ICDP Rewari’s accountant Sumit Aggarwal, officer Nitin Sharma and Vijay Singh are alsoon the list. The ICDP is being run by the Haryana Cooperation Department, which focuses on setting up cooperative organisations and implementing programmes to promote development in rural areas. According to information property of value worth rupees five crore of corrupts have already been attached so far and further process in this regard is still going on.
