Taking the investigation forward in the irrigation scam, the Anti-Corruption Bureau on Wednesday registered a new case of cheating, forgery and criminal misconduct against five members of the Khatri family, who were all executive engineers in an irrigation project, and also against some unidentified Mantralaya employees. The fresh FIR was registered after the ACB stumbled upon evidence against them. ACB officers said the FIR was registered against Fateh Mohamed Abdullah Khatri, Nisar Fateh Mohamed Khatri, Jaitun Fateh Mohamed Khatri, Abid Fateh Mohamed Khatri and Jahid Fateh Mohamed Khatri. During the course of its investigation, the agency came to know that the accused had flouted norms in connivance with officials at Mantralaya to bag the Balganga dam project.
"There was a circular issued by the government in 2001 which clearly stated that a single contractor can't get more that three projects. Our investigation revealed that in 2006 FA Constructions, which is owned by the Khatris, carried out six projects," said an ACB officer. "Three of the partners in FA Constructions even floated a new firm in 2006 — FA Enterprises — to bag new contracts." The probe also revealed that the accused were involved in forging documents to acquire a registration certificate from the Public Works Department (PWD) for FA Enterprises. "We came to know that Anilkumar Gaikwad, an executive engineer with the PWD, had helped the accused get the certificate by breaking rules. We have booked Gaikwad under the Prevention of Corruption Act for criminal misconduct," said the officer.
Interestingly, when ACB officers went to the PWD office in Mantralaya to check and verify the documents the firm had submitted for registration, the papers were nowhere to be found. They later found out that, when renovation was on at Mantralaya, the papers had gone missing. Hence, the ACB booked unknown officials from Mantralaya for destroying evidence.
