Asst Drug Controller on the run

Tribune News Service

Solan, August 24

Assistant Drug Controller (ADC) Nishant Sarin, whose residence and six other places were raided by the State Vigilance and Anti-Corruption Bureau (SVACB) sleuths yesterday, has remained elusive. A notice has been served on him to join the probe at the bureau’s Solan office tomorrow. Additional Director General of Police, SVACB, Anurag Garg said a DSP-level officer was heading the probe.

“He resides at Sector 38 in Chandigarh and a notice has been sent there. Incriminatory documents pertaining to properties have been seized in the raid, apart from other valuables, and it will be probed as to how they were acquired,” Garg said.

Since he has been booked under Section 11 of the Prevention of Corruption Act, the bureau sleuths are especially verifying the series of air travels undertaken by him to Goa and other destinations, where he had stayed in five star hotels along with a companion.

These trips were reportedly funded by pharmaceutical companies. The bureau had received a complaint from pharmaceutical investors that Sarin was demanding undue favours like air tickets and hotel accommodation.

Though the bureau sleuths are tight-lipped about the cash and valuables seized in the raid, aspects like how they have been acquired by Sarin and whether they are disproportionate to his known sources of income will be inquired into.

A case of disproportionate assets will also be registered against the ADC on verification of the property papers, cash and other valuables seized from the six locations.

Sarin, who was deputed in Mandi from Baddi recently, had informed the State Drugs Controller through an e-mail on August 19 that he had joined there a few days ago, though the date of joining was not reported and neither had he turned up at the Baddi office in August, said State Drugs Controller Navneet Marwaha.

State Drug Controller transferred 

The state government on Saturday transferred Navneet Marwaha, State Drug Controller, Baddi, as the Officer on Special Duty to the Director, Health Safety and Regulation, in Shimla. He has also been assigned the work of food safety in the directorate. It was the growing tiff between Marwaha and Sarin, which had led to a series of complaints against each other much to the embarrassment of the state government. The step is being seen as a move to quell infighting within the department, which is earning disrepute to the department.