PDS Scam: 12 arrested, Congress alleges cover-up

ADG (ACB) Mukesh Gupta said: “These arrests are the direct outcome of the evidence. Investigation is still on.”

More than a month after the raids at the offices of Civil Supplies Corporation Limited in which Rs 3.64 crore was recovered, the Chhattisgarh Anti-Corruption Bureau on Friday arrested 12 of its employees. They have been sent to judicial remand until April 4. All these employees were suspended after the ACB recovered cash from their offices.

Noting that the junior staff is being made scapegoat, the Congress has termed it as a cover-up action. The police had said that the amount was given by rice millers to these employees as part of the PDS rice scam. This amount was then distributed among the topmost government functionaries in the state, the ACB had said.

The Indian Express had reported that some of the seized documents from these employees named senior IAS officers and persons with names matching that of the relatives of Chief Minister Raman Singh as alleged beneficiaries of the scam.

While the police had admitted that the names of these officers had figured in the investigation, they are yet to face even interrogation. There was also a mention of “CM Sir” and “CM Madam” in the seized documents, but the police said it referred to a corporation employee Chintamani Chandrakar and his wife.

State Congress chief Bhupesh Baghel termed the arrests as “fake action”. “The name of the CM has figured prominently in the seized papers, but they only arrested junior employees. This action is fake and attempts to cover up the scam.”

ADG (ACB) Mukesh Gupta said: “These arrests are the direct outcome of the evidence. Investigation is still on.”

Source:: Indian Express