Playing with the lives of those for whom acquiring life protecting devices were required to be arranged , hoax and duplicity with intent to make illegal pecuniary gains worth crores of rupees, were reportedly resorted to in State Police Department. The scam has surfaced which is unprecedented in its structure and in its form, involving purchase of bullet proof vests, headgears and bullet proof covering of gypsies, thus brazenly compromising with the protection cover to security personnel from bullets.
This fraud of suspected wide range warrants a probe of higher level and complete unearthing of all the nuts and bolts of conspiracy, planning, modus operandi and other relevant pieces of evidence including illegal money trails which made this scam possible. It is reported that the purchases of over Rs. 100 crore were made by the Police Headquarters for the Jammu and Kashmir Police during the last fiscal and intentionally and knowingly, sub- standard purchases were made of these life saving devices and bullet proof covering of gypsies, thus criminally imperiling the lives of the Police personnel , those who usually are at the forefront of fighting armed terrorism in the State.
To put dust into the eyes of the people whose tax money is it all about, what was initially selected by the Purchase Committee symbolically – a sample of proper specification, later turned out to be something else thus compromising on the security and protection aspects. There are various questions arising which need cogent replies without resorting to any alibis. The questions pertain to all the stages of the process of such purchases right from sanction to surfacing of the fraud.
After the purchase, on sample but random basis, were such bullet proof protection items tested , checked and performance parameters verified? Who authenticated their quality and durability as per specifications and issued a certificate to this effect? What role did the Survey Committee perform in an issue where precious human lives were involved? What were the levels of vigilance to keep the entire process of purchases under secret surveillance? Have those who cleared the purchase along with those top officials suspected to have hobnobbed, been placed under suspension and precluded from attending offices without permission, to circumvent any attempts of fiddling and tampering with any type of documents, files, papers, survey reports etc?
What baffles the common man whose tax money is involved is, what are the audit levels and periodicity of audits and what fate is meted out to their reports pin pointing glaring departures from laid out procedures and rules. Obviously, if provision of concurrent audits or audits with unspecified periodicity with element of surprise, would have been in vogue in our State departments, lot of many frauds, defalcations and embezzlements could have been averted.
Excelsior has put out all facts which could be collected in respect of this scam and published the same prominently, details of which need not be repeated excepting urging the Government to unearth each and every aspect of this fraud and subject the culprits to the rigours of law to prove as a deterrent for future. We shall be monitoring and tracking the issue very closely.
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