Bihar Retd Engineer Jailed For 4 Years In 38-Yr-Old Scam Of Rs 20,000

The then assistant engineer, executive engineer, junior engineer and contractor of Triveni Canal repair project were accused of financial irregularities of Rs 20,000 38 years ago. Barring the assistant engineer, the rest have died.

Muzaffarpur:A 76-year-old retired engineer has been sentenced to four years of imprisonment in connection to a scam of Rs 20,000 related to Triveni Canal repair case, which occurred around 38 years ago.

The verdict was given by Special Monitoring Court Judge Satyaprakash Shukla in Bihar's Muzaffarpur. Surendranath Verma (76), a resident of Patna, who was the then assistant engineer has been found guilty. The court has also imposed a fine of Rs 10,000 on him and warned that the jail term may be extended if he fails to pay the amount.

It was alleged that there were financial irregularities amounting to Rs 20,000 in the repair of Triveni Canal in Ghodasahan. The Vigilance Bureau had lodged 13 separate FIRs in this regard. The then Vigilance inspector Arun Kumar Singh Vineet had registered an FIR in June 1987 accusing of a scam of Rs. 20,925.

Apart from Surendranath, the then executive engineer Ramchandra Prasad Singh, the then junior engineer Naval Kishore Prasad Singh and contractor Sami Khan were accused in this case.

The Special Public Prosecutor Krishnadev Sah said that vigilance investigation revealed that contractor Sami Khan had got the work done for only Rs 1031 rupees but was paid Rs 21,956, including the bribe.

After investigation, the Vigilance Bureau filed a chargesheet against the four accused. While the trial was underway, three accused Ramchandra Prasad Singh, Naval Kishore Prasad Singh and contractor Sami Khan passed away. Surendranath is the sole surviving accused in this case.

The scam occurred in the financial year 1986-87 during the repair of Triveni canal. Surendranath was posted in Ramnagar sub-division of East Champaran at that time.

Presenting the evidence, the Special Public Prosecutor said, "The scam was investigated at the headquarters level by the monitoring team led by the then DIG DP Ojha. During the investigation of the soil work worth Rs 3 crore, irregularities of Rs 1.50 crore were revealed."

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