Conservator of Forests booked for cheating

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, May 18

The Gurugram police have booked Conservator of Forests Ghanshyam Shukla on the charges of cheating, forgery and criminal breach of trust and under the Prevention of Corruption Act following a local court’s order.

The Indian Forest Service (IFS) officer has been charged with claiming fake tour bills and house rent allowance, besides operating from his private residence in Panchkula for about seven months in 2017 while he was posted in Gurugram.

A complaint in this regard was submitted to the police in December 2017. Since the police did not register a case, complainant Satpal, a resident of Faridabad, approached the district courts in Gurugram.

Chief Judicial Magistrate Pardeep Choudhry ordered an FIR, which was registered at Shivaji Nagar police station in Gurugram.

However, Shukla refuted the charges saying, “The allegations are false. Similar allegations were also levelled in a complaint lodged at the CM  window. An inquiry found the charges to be false. Someone from my office is colluding with the complainant. Whatever allowances I have claimed are as per my rank”.

According to Satpal, Shukla was transferred from Rohtak to Gurugram on March 8, 2017. He claimed that he left the charge of Rohtak on March 10 and joined in Gurugram on April 25.

The complainant had submitted in court that Shukla violated service rules by remaining absent from duty for 45 days and furnished a fake medical certificate in April 2018.

Satpal submitted that Shukla used to remain absent from office and had been operating from Panchkula. He said that Shukla had claimed tour allowance on false grounds many times. Shukla also claimed Rs 97,901 as house rent allowance while he had not taken any house on rent in Gurugram. Satpal submitted that over Rs 20,000 was claimed for tours of a messenger for bringing files from Gurugram to Panchkula.

“I am not aware of any FIR against Shukla. I have not received any information in this regard,” said Principal Chief Conservator of Forests Anil Hooda.

Previous complaint lodged at CM window

• Satpal had lodged a complaint at the CM Window on December 22, 2017, also but the allegations were declared to be false 
• Regarding the 45-day gap before Ghanshyam Shukla joined in Gurugram, the Principal Chief Conservator of Forests said he was on approved leave
• During the inquiry, the staff had said he used to be at the Gurugram office and was not operating from Panchkula. The messenger had denied making any trip to Panchkula for the clearance of files 
• Shukla’s landlord had recorded his statement about his stay in rented accommodation in Gurugram 
• Shukla also denied claiming tour allowance in violation of rules