ED has opened a huge scam case around road construction projects in Madhya Pradesh, which involves fake invoices and overcharges, amounting to ₹55 crore, for using bitumen panels.
The agency reportedly found that contractors were using bitumen from fake firms and getting it from the prominent public sector companies like Indian Oil Corporation (IOCL), Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited (BPCL) and Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Limited (HPCL). Investigators believe that the bills to the extent of ₹55 crore were forged to get payments for road construction jobs.
The probe came about after a complaint was filed by Madhya Pradesh Rural Road Development Authority. The ED commenced its investigation pursuant to the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) and Section on Corruption offences.
As part of the operation, searches were carried out in Rewa and Jabalpur where ED teams were deployed. The police recovered ₹23 lakh in cash and roughly ₹2.9 crore in bank deposits during the raids that were linked to the scam.
The agency suspects that as a result of using fake construction materials, the roads constructed under the many government projects are sub-standard and may have caused cost reductions to the public exchequer and worried about infrastructure standards.
The action is part of the anti-corruption drive to be conducted across Madhya Pradesh by the ED. Over the past few months, the agency also went after several high-profile individuals and entities in other cases of disproportionate assets, benami property and financial irregularities.
The investigation is ongoing and other people, contractors and officials could be targeted as they conduct a financial investigation and checks are made of transaction trails.
The latest public infractions have introduced new worries about governance of public construction jobs and faked paperwork and manipulated procurement procedures to defraud taxpayers.