UP govt approves CBI inquiry into Power Corporation EPF scam case

Uttar Pradesh Additional Chief Secretary Avnish Awasthi on Sunday said that the state government has given approval for a CBI inquiry into a case of alleged investment of over Rs 2,600 crore of Uttar Pradesh power employees' provident fund money in scam-hit Dewan Housing Finance Corporation Limited (DHFL).

At a press conference, Awasthi said, "Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath has given the approval for the CBI inquiry in the case. The state government has a zero-tolerance policy on corruption."

"Till the CBI takes over the investigation, DG Economic Offences Wing (EOW) RP Singh will do the investigation in the case," Awasthi said.

Two officers were arrested in a case related to the alleged investment of over Rs 2,600 crore of Uttar Pradesh power employees' provident fund money in scam-hit Dewan Housing Finance Corporation Limited (DHFL).

Praveen Kumar Gupta, who was the secretary of the Uttar Pradesh State Power Employees Trust and the Provident Fund Trust of the Uttar Pradesh Power Corporation in 2016, and the then director, finance, Sudhanshu Dwivedi, were arrested after an FIR was lodged against them at the Hazratganj police station here.

The FIR was registered against the officers on the directions of the Chief Minister on Saturday, a government spokesperson had said in a statement.

The Chief Minister has directed the home department and the Director-General of Police (DGP) to take strong action against the officers for diverting provident fund money into DHFL, a private firm, against the government norms, the spokesperson had said.

As per the documents available, Gupta was the in-charge of the CPF trust and the General Provident Fund (GPF) trust and he got an approval from Dwivedi to divert more than 50 per cent of the provident funds' money to DHFL, as against the guidelines of the Union Finance Ministry, the statement had said.

The officers were aware that DHFL was not a scheduled commercial bank and was an unsafe private organisation, the statement had added.

According to available records, Rs 2,631.20 crore of employees' GPF was invested in DHFL out of which Rs 1185.5 crore has been returned by the finance company. A total of Rs 1491.50 crore of CPF was invested in the company out of which Rs 669.30 crore has been received by the trust. DHFL is yet to return Rs 2267.9 crore (principal amount) of GPF and CPF to the trust, the statement had said.