Ex-BDPO, contractor arrested in Rs 28-crore panchayat scam

The Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB), Faridabad, has arrested Pooja Sharma, former Block Development and Panchayat Officer (BDPO) of Ballabhgarh, and contractor Hiralal in connection with a Rs 28-crore embezzlement case.

An FIR in the case was registered in April 2021 at Sadar Police Station, Ballabhgarh, on the complaint of then Faridabad DC Yashpal Yadav, who had formed a committee to probe financial irregularities in Mujedi village.

According to the FIR, former Sarpanch Rani and suspended village secretary Vijaypal had withdrawn Rs 2.32 crore between January and May 2020 without approval, causing a loss of Rs 69 lakh to the panchayat.

Subsequent investigation revealed that then BDPO Pooja Sharma, in collusion with acting Sarpanch Brahmapal, secretary Jogendra and contractor Hiralal, embezzled Rs 22 crore by submitting fake bills. Of this, Rs 17.14 crore went to Hiralal alone.

In 2023, the case was transferred to the ACB, which found payments totalling Rs 28 crore had been routed to Hiralal and other firms. Officials also said Sharma reopened the sealed panchayat account on her own authority and took a bribe of Rs 9 lakh for clearing dues of a construction company.

Investigators further unearthed a fraudulent Rs 43-lakh tree plantation project in November 2020. “The bills showed tree plantation in November-December, when planting is not feasible. The bills were later backdated to June 2021,” an ACB official said.

Sharma was suspended after the FIR but later reinstated following a Punjab and Haryana High Court order. At the time of her arrest, she was posted as BDPO, Punhana, in Nuh district.