Chandigarh/Ludhiana, October 15, 2024: The Punjab Vigilance Bureau (VB) has launched a corruption investigation against three officials of the Municipal Corporation (MC) Ludhiana for the misappropriation of funds totaling ₹3.16 crore with the accused including Rajinder Singh, a retired Superintending Engineer, Ranbir Singh, the Executive Engineer (XEN), and Pankaj Garg, the Deputy Controller of Finance and Accounts (DCFA).
Ranbir Singh has been arrested and will be presented in court tomorrow, the Bureau said in a statement.
An official spokesperson for the VB disclosed that the investigation was pressed by a complaint (No. 359/2023) filed by Jaspinder Singh, an Electric Pump Driver at MC Ludhiana.
The complaint alleged that Ranbir Singh had received ₹3.16 crore in advance payments between May 2021 and September 2022 for payments to the Punjab State Power Corporation Ltd (PSPCL) concerning tubewell projects. However, the funds were misappropriated by the accused in collusion with one another.
During the investigation, the VB found no supporting documents for any requests from PSPCL for these advance payments.
The proper procedure requires that a proposal be submitted by a Junior Engineer or Sub Divisional Officer before being approved by the concerned XEN, which was not followed.
The investigation revealed that Ranbir Singh had fabricated a demand from PSPCL and submitted it to Rajinder Singh for approval without proper verification.
The officials involved, including the Joint Commissioner and the Additional Commissioner, approved the request without scrutinizing the accompanying documents. Once approved, the file was sent to DCFA Pankaj Garg, who failed to raise objections or verify the necessary documents, facilitating the disbursement of the funds.
The VB spokesperson stated, “It is astonishing that Ranbir Singh managed to withdraw ₹3.16 crore in cash through self-cheques from MC accounts.”
Notably, after the complaint was lodged three years later, Ranbir Singh began depositing some of the misappropriated funds back into the MC account. Between January 30, 2024, and March 21, 2024, he returned ₹3.12 crore in cash, although ₹4,34,692 remains outstanding.
An FIR (No. 32 dated October 14, 2024) has been filed under various sections of the Prevention of Corruption Act and the Indian Penal Code against Rajinder Singh, Ranbir Singh, and Pankaj Garg at the VB police station in Ludhiana Range.
The Bureau is actively pursuing the arrest of the remaining accused, and the roles of other officials involved during the relevant period will also be examined as part of the ongoing investigation, the statements reads.
