As many as 13 police personnel have been arrested in connection with the 2019 salary scam of the Chandigarh Police. A nearly three-year-long police investigation suggests that approximately Rs 1.10 crore was embezzled, with excessive amounts credited to the salary accounts of hundreds of police personnel. Here is an attempt to decode the scam that shook the UT police.
In 2019, the audit department identified the disbursement of an excess amount in certain salary accounts of Chandigarh Police personnel, primarily those of head constables and constables between 2015 and 2018. The then SP (Crime) Manoj Kumar Meena conducted a preliminary investigation after this discovery, leading to a special audit by the Comptroller of Auditor General (CAG). The CAG’s special audit revealed embezzlement of approximately Rs 1.60 crore transferred to various salary accounts of police personnel.
Consequently, an FIR under relevant charges, including forgery, cheating, and under the provisions of the Prevention of Corruption (PC) Act, 1988, was registered at Sector 3 police station. Initially, 40 salary accounts receiving excessive payments were shortlisted, which later rose to 79. Further investigation revealed that around 200 accounts received excess amounts. All UT police employees were linked to the e-Sevaarth application, which helped in providing details of their pay and allowances.
What was the modus operandi?
According to the investigation, personnel in the A4 Branch, responsible for preparing salaries of constables and head constables, engaged in a well-planned conspiracy. They made bogus claims for LTC leaves, pay arrears, travel, dearness, and medical allowances, etc, and submitted vouchers for the same to the account branch.
The money was credited to the accounts of police personnel, even to those who had previously declined to submit medical or TA bills during the probe. It was revealed that the involved personnel withdrew the excess amount and paid a significant share to salary branch personnel. Evidence emerged that many beneficiaries remained silent and paid commissions to the accused personnel.
Who were the suspects arrested in the scam, and what are the allegations against them?
Almost all dealing hands, including the then in charge of the A4 branch (salary branch), Junior Assistant Balwinder Kumar, Home Guard Volunteer (HGV) Surjit Singh, ASI Vinod Kumar, Constable Rajbir Singh, and nine others including a retired policeman, have been arrested. Sources indicate that the arrested individuals were posted in the accounts branch to perform treasury duties, which include preparing bills for salary, pay arrears, LTC leave encashment, etc.
Surjit acted as a conduit between the dealing hands and beneficiary cops. Some beneficiaries cops were also arrested. In an internal probe, the then Assistant Controller (Accounts & Finance) Sudhir Parashar concluded that an in-depth probe was required against members of the salary branch, including its in charge. He mentioned in the report: “The salary of Section Officer Jagdeep Singh Sehrawat for the entire tenure in the police department checked, and nothing was found overpaid”.
The probe officer further maintained, “The role of two previous section officers – Jaspal Singh and Ravinder Kumar – needs to be verified in detail”.
How did the scam create differences between CAG and the police department?
On March 10 this year, Director General of Audit (Central) Sanjeev Goyal held a press conference, claiming that inadmissible payments on account of pay and allowances, LTC, and other benefits totaling more than Rs 1 crore were made to police personnel. Despite alerting the police, no action was taken. DGP (UT) Praveer Ranjan later claimed that it was Chandigarh Police that urged the CAG to conduct a special audit of its police personnel’s accounts. Goyal also claimed that the UT police’s bills and vouchers, amounting to a whopping Rs 84 crore, went missing between 2017-2020.
What is the current status of the case?
Currently, a Special Investigation Team (SIT) supervised by SP (Crime) Ketan Bansal and DSP (Crime) Udaypal Singh Rawat is overseeing the investigation. Three chargesheets, comprising one main chargesheet and two supplementaries, have been filed in the district court at Sector 43.
Out of the 13 accused, at least eight have been granted bail by the concerned court. In March 2023, the UT police announced that the entire embezzlement amount had been fully recovered from the beneficiaries.
© The Indian Express Pvt Ltd
First published on: 25-11-2023 at 07:36 IST