Punjab Vigilance Bureau arrests 2 officials in Ludhiana tender scam

Chandigarh November 22

The Punjab Vigilance Bureau (VB) today arrested two District Food and Civil Supplies Controllers (DFSCs) involved in the tender scam in various grain markets in Ludhiana district.

The VB has also initiated proceedings in a court against three accused namely RK Singla, Deputy Director, Food and Civil Supplies, and Pankaj Kumar and Inderjit Singh, both PAs of former Food and Civil Supplies Minister Bharat Bhushan Ashu, to declare them as proclaimed offenders (POs).

Disclosing this here today a VB spokesperson said the bureau had already registered a case under the IPC and the Prevention of Corruption Act against contractor Telu Ram, Jagroop Singh, Sandeep Bhatia and owners/partners of Gurdas Ram & Company as well as officials of the Food and Civil Supply Department for allocation of labour and transportation tenders in various grain markets.

He said Telu Ram, Ashu, Krishan Lal Dhotiwala and Anil Jain (both commission agents) had already been arrested and all were in judicial custody. The VB has already presented a challan against Ashu, Telu Ram and Krishan Lal in the competent court at Ludhiana.

He said the accused were members of the district tender committee at the time of allotment of the tenders. They along with other members were responsible for checking the relevant documents attached with the tenders, including a list of transport vehicles but they did not verify the registration numbers of vehicles intentionally as numbers of scooters and motorcycles were mentioned in the attached list of vehicles. Despite submission of wrong documents, the officers allotted tenders to the contractors by accepting bribes from them, he added.

The VB on Tuesday arrested two more accused — Sukhwinder Singh Gill, then DFSC Ludhiana West, and Harveen Kaur, then DFSC Ludhiana East.

The spokesperson further added that as per the investigation Sukhwinder Singh had taken Rs 2 lakh and an iPhone as bribe and Harveen Kaur had taken Rs 3 lakh as bribe from Telu Ram. He said both these accused would be produced in a court tomorrow.