ACB files chargesheet in foodgrain misappropriation case in J&K’s Udhampur

Jammu, Oct 9: The Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) on Saturday filed a chargeheet against four serving and retired government employees in a case related to alleged misappropriation of foodgrains in Jammu and Kashmir”s Udhampur district, an official said.
The chargesheet was filed against Tehsil Supply Officer (TSO) Madan Lal and retired store keepers Bankey Ram, Jarmez Singh and Babu Ram in the anti-corruption court Udhampur which has fixed November 13 as the next date of hearing of the case, an ACB spokesperson said.
He said the case was registered in 2015 on the outcome of a verification conducted into the allegations regarding misappropriation of foodgrains meant for different categories by the officials of Food, Civil Supplies and Consumer Affairs department of Udhampur and Pancheri blocks between 2004 and 2008.
“In fact, the foodgrains shown issued to different dealers have not been actually transported/dispatched thereby the accused officers/officials of FCS&CA department of Block Udhampur and Block Pancheri by misusing their official positions and criminal conspiracy with each other.
“They had drawn an excess amount of over Rs 36.89 lakh on account of loading and unloading carriage charges of excess quota of ration issued to the dealers and have misappropriated the said amount thereby causing wrongful gain to themselves and wrongful loss to the state exchequer by committing falsification of record and misappropriating public money,” the spokesperson said.
During investigation, he said it was established that the accused in a well-knit conspiracy with criminal intention had made false bills/ tampered with the record and also tried to destroy the evidence.
“It was found that the ration/foodgrains have been shown issued on record to the place where the carriage charges were very high which actually were not received by the concerned dealers by doing this they misappropriated the public money,” he said.