Jammu, June 10
The CBI here has unearthed a scam worth Rs 12.50 crore in the laying of fencing along the border with Pakistan and the LoC in Poonch and Akhnoor sectors.

Government officials accuse the guilty persons, including a steel industrialist, of minting money in the name of fencing border along Pakistan. So far, the CBI has not named any Army official in the scandal.

According to an FIR registered with Trikuta Nagar police station and CBI sources, the Army had awarded a contract of laying barbed wires to a company based in Gangyal. The contract was awarded through the National Consumer Cooperative Federation, a government agency.

Discrepancies were allegedly found in the fencing of a 65 km stretch, out of which 18 km was along the LoC in the Poonch sector. The LoC starts from near Akhnoor, up to which the international border exists.

The accused industrialist allegedly inflated bills and got the work done through a private agency against the norms of the contract. The money misappropriated was estimated at Rs 12.50 crore, which may increase, the sources said.

A CBI team also raided the house of a steel industrialist in Trikuta Nagar this morning. The industrialist, however, claimed he had already sold off the barbed wire manufacturing unit.

The sources said the industrialist seemed to have got wind of the CBI action. Though he is a well known person of the city, his house has plastic furniture and no costly items.