CBI books ITBP officer for corruption in buying heating oil for LAC outpost

The CBI has booked an ITBP commandant and his two subordinates for alleged corruption in purchase of heating oil and other items for an outpost at Indo-China LAC in Uttarakhand, officials said Tuesday.

The CBI has registered the FIR on a complaint by the Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP), where a court of inquiry was ordered against Commandant 23rd Battalion Ashok Kumar Gupta and other officers.

It was alleged that a tanker containing 9784 litres of heating oil meant for border outpost near Mana village on Indo-China Line of Actual Control was misappropriated by fudging records, the officials said.

The inquiry showed that as per records of the battalion, two tankers of subsidized kerosene (SK) oil were received at Mana Post on August 6, 2018.

"It is also shown in the records of QM branch that line committee was conducted at 1630 hrs on 06.08.18 and accordingly 9784 +9784=19568 litres SK oil has been taken in the stock of QM branch of the unit," the findings of the inquiry said.

The inquiry showed that only one tanker had reached the post on that causing a loss of over Rs 9 lakh to the exchequer resulting from a ghost tanker.

The hand of Gupta, sub-inspector Sudhir Kumar and assistant sub-inspector Anusuya Prasad and one Sajid were also found in alleged corruption in the purchases for a wet canteen of 23rd Battalion in Dehradun, officials said.

The alleged graft took place in wet canteen Jayka operating in headquarters of the battalion in Dehradun where prepared snacks are served to unit personnel.

The ITBP inquiry showed that purchases of the canteen were not done through the Central Police Canteen, instead material was purchased from the local market without a tender process or through local purchase committee.

Consumable items of Rs 9.06 lakh were purchased through local market with bills prepared on the letter-pad of private firms and payments were made in cash, the FIR alleged.

"All these three firms are owned by same person, thus transparency and competitiveness were compromised," it said.

The inquiry report cited the statement of an ITBP jawan claiming that half of the amount of sugar and oil was illegally sourced from free ration stores of the companies under the battalion.

"The bills for these items were prepared in the name of private firms of local market on their letterheads. The cost of these items at market rate were calculated and the total amount was regularly handed over to Commandant 23rd Battalion Ashok Kumar Gupta in person by HC Ramesh Singh," the FIR alleged.