Court summons govt officials as accused in corruption case

A Delhi court has summoned five government officials and a private person after taking cognisance of a CBI charge sheet against them in a cheating and corruption case.
Special CBI Judge Gurdeep Singh Saini said there were sufficient grounds to proceed against the accused public servants and the proprietor of a private firm and summoned them for October 28.
"I have gone through the material on record, statements of witnesses and documents. I am of the opinion that there are sufficient grounds to proceed against the accused public servants, namely, Vilas Rao Ghodeswar, Naresh Kumar Gupta, Mata Deen Gupta, Rajesh Kumar Bhambi, Amit Dabas and accused private person, namely, Vibhuti Thakur, Proprietor of M/s Sunsilk Carpets and Furnishers for commission of offences...," the judge said.

They have been summoned for alleged offences punishable under sections 120-B (criminal conspiracy) read with sections 420 (cheating)/468 (forgery for purpose of cheating)/471 (using forged documents as genuine) of IPC and under the provisions of the Prevention of Corruption Act.
According to the CBI, an FIR was lodged in 2013 on the allegations of irregularities in the award of a tender relating to renovation work at the Pay and Accounts Office of Ministry of Information and Broadcasting's AGCR building here.
In furtherance of a criminal conspiracy, the five government officials and the private person dishonestly and fraudulently facilitated payment of bills causing pecuniary advantage to themselves and the contractor to the tune of Rs 42.7 lakh and corresponding loss to the exchequer, CBI said.

It alleged that chief controller of accounts Ghodeswar had approved a proposal moved by senior accounts officer N K Gupta and constituted a tender committee without any technical person, comprising senior accounts officer M D Gupta, AAO members N K Gupta and R K Bhambi and accountant Amit Dabas.

The tender committee submitted estimate of renovation work for over Rs 85 lakh which was beyond the financial power of Ghodeswar and no approval was taken from the Additional Secretary and Financial Advisor of the Ministry.
The tender for renovation work was invited through the website of the Ministry and five firms had submitted their applications.

CBI said the tender, awarded to Sunsilk Carpets and Furnishers and investigation, revealed that all other firms barring Sunsilk Carpets and Furnishers, were found to be "non-existent".
It added that the material used was sub-standard and payment was made at exorbitant rate against prevailing rates of 2008.