Daijiworld Media Network-Bengaluru (RJP)
Bengaluru, Oct 8: The serial of illegal deposits of government money in unauthorized bank accounts continues. In addition to the Rs 1,355 crore found deposited in 1,128 unauthorized accounts some months back, now it has emerged that illegal money to the tune of Rs 540 crore has been parked in 101 bank accounts.
The rural development and panchayat raj minister H K Patil himself revealed this fact in Bengaluru in a press meet. A tip off from an individual helped to unearth this scam, it is said. H K Patil said that he will initiate the action in the matter within two days.
The department has zeroed in on six officials who include gazetted officer B S Raigeri. Raigeri has not co-operated with the investigating officers and gave wrong information about the illegal accounts.
The funds were deposited in the Syndicate Bank branch on KG Road in Bengaluru. Out of the 101 bank accounts, Rs 495 crore has been deposited in a single account and another account has a deposit of Rs 44 crore. Remaining 99 accounts have the deposits of around Rs 75 lacs. The deposits into these accounts were made in 2010-11.
Punati Sridhar Committee which probed the matter has already submitted its final report but the government is yet to take action. The present scam of Rs 540 crore revealed by the minister did not come to Punati Sridhar committee’s notice.
Only one official of the deputy secretary rank, Ramakrishna, has been suspended in the case so far. Ramakrishna, the prime accused, had deposited Rs 92 crore meant for rural water supply in Andhra Bank, Gandhinagar in March 2011. The amount had grown to Rs 134 crore with interest in August 2014.
The Finance department has also appointed a special team headed by additional controller of state accounts, S Shivarudrappa, to conduct transaction auditing of the scam. The team will study the contractual agreements, whether or not tenders were floated, whether work certificates were issued for the payments made, etc.
Minister H K Patil will hold a meeting with chief minister Siddaramaiah on Thursday and a decision to entrust the case to the CID will be taken in that meeting.