The Haryana Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) on Friday claimed to have busted a scam in the Integrated Cooperative Development Project (ICDP), unearthing a Rs 100 crore corruption racket and arrested 14 persons, including 10 senior officers and 4 private individuals, for their involvement.
An official spokesperson said that the ACB team, upon investigation, exposed a Rs 100 crore scam within the ICDP in which assistant registrars and district registrars of cooperative societies, allegedly colluded with an auditor, allegedly misappropriated funds for personal gains.
Details of case
They misused government funds deposited in official accounts to purchase flats, land, and other assets, etc and attempted to cover their tracks by forging government documents and bank details.
Stating that an investigation was underway to gather all necessary evidence, the spokesperson said that a case had been registered against the accused under various sections in Karnal and Ambala range. Six gazetted officers, four additional staff from ICDP, Rewari, and four private individuals were apprehended by the ACB during their thorough investigation.
The arrested accused
The arrests included audit officer Balwinder, deputy chief auditor, Yogendra Aggarwal, district registrar cooperative societies, Karnal, Rohit Gupta, assistant registrar, cooperative societies, Anu koshish, Ramkumar, Jitendra Kaushik, and Krishna Beniwal.
Additionally, ICDP, Rewari's accountant, Sumit Aggarwal, development officer, Nitin Sharma and Vijay Singh were also detained.
Stalian Jeet, Natasha Kaushik, Subhash and Rekha were among the four private individuals currently in custody. For the record, the Cooperation department, Haryana, operates the ICDP, focusing on development in rural and agricultural areas through various programmes and the development of cooperative societies.
Further investigation underway
Stating that the further probe was on in the matter, the ACB director general (DG) Shatrujeet Kapur also appealed to the general public to immediately inform the Haryana ACB if any officer or employee demanded a bribe for government work.
Meanwhile, when contacted for details, Registrar, Cooperative Societies, Haryana, Rajesh Jogpal, told FPJ that a total of Rs 139 crores were sanctioned under ICDP project for the districts of Kaithal, Kurukshetra, Karnal, Panipat, Sonepat and Gurugram (including Mewat district) out of which Rs 61 crore was released in 2022 for the current year up to March 31, 2023. Out of this, about Rs 29 crore was recalled.
Stating that the scheme for this year had been suspended after the scam came to light, he said the case for the dismissal of Yogender Agarwal and Anu Koshish, ARCs was sent to the government last year and Sumit Agarwal, had been dismissed last year.
