5 Punsup officers create bogus bills, suspended

The state government has suspended five officers of Punjab State Civil Supplies Corporation Limited (PUNSUP) in Bathinda and Mansa for allegedly generating fake bills showing payment of rent to warehouses and pocketing the proceeds.

The money was withdrawn multiple times from the department accounts, according to sources.

A departmental probe revealed that the officers also created fake entries of paddy storage as no stock was ever stored in the warehouses.

The fake didn’t have the name of warehouse while the payment was cleared by senior officials.

The alleged mastermind of the scam has been identified as Sandeep Kumar, senior assistant (accounts) posted in Mansa.

Previously serving in Bathinda, he was transferred in 2024.

Sandeep, who managed all accounting work, is said to have colluded with several rice mill owners in Mansa to prepare fake bills.

Along with him, four inspectors from Bathinda — Amandeep Singh, Rupinder Kumar, Surinder Kumar, and Pavitarjit Singh — have also been suspended.

A source said Sandeep had credited some of the amount to the department account after the matter came to light.

The department action comes after senior officials received complaints about the alleged scam and initiated a probe, which confirmed the irregularities.

The government has shifted the headquarters of the suspended officers to Chandigarh and is also preparing to hand over the matter to the Vigilance Bureau.

It is learnt that to avoid suspicion, the first payment was always made to a genuine warehouse owner before diverting subsequent payments to relatives.