CBI set to file FIR in LTC scam

The agency has quizzed government officials and tour operators to gather evidence to register a FIR in the case

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) is set to file a case in the leave travel concession (LTC) scam. The agency has quizzed government officials and tour operators to gather evidence to register a first information report (FIR) in the case.

Officials of the Rajya Sabha secretariat, Shipping Corporation of India, Air India and Ordnance Factory Board (OFB), Jabalpur,  found to have committed fraud in claiming LTC.

The agency had registered a preliminary enquiry into the matter in August. CBI is likely to name tour operators and officials in the FIR.

The agency has alleged that senior and mid-level officers in government organisations colluded with private tour operators to take personal trips with families to far-off destinations and then claim the amount spent as official visits.

The incident came to light when Kolkata Police nabbed a person with 600 boarding passes of Air India. It was later found that the boarding passes had to be delivered to other parties to show fake travel documents. Thereafter, the vigilance department of Air India was alerted about the incident.

CBI is yet to estimate the exact loss this has caused to the exchequer, but the figure is expected to run into lakhs of rupees.

The investigating agency had also received documents from the Central Vigilance Commission on this matter after it referred the case to the CBI.

One of the cases to be probed is the LTC facility availed on December 13, 2012 when seven tickets of ‘executive class’ were purchased for travel on the Delhi-Kolkata-Port Blair route and back.