| ACB, CB to go tough on corrupt officers, politicians | | |
ISHTIYAQ AHMAD
EARLY TIMES REPORT
SRINAGAR, Mar 3: To take many pending cases of corruption against serving and retired bureaucrats, and politicians to their logical conclusion, the noose is being tightened around corrupt officers in the union territory of Jammu and Kashmir.
“We have clear instructions from the higher-ups to ensure that investigation into all the corruption cases as well as other pending FIRs is completed as expeditiously as possible so as to pave the way for presentation of challans in the Anti-Corruption Courts and securing maximum conviction,” one of the top officials in the Crime branch told early times.
Sources said that with Central Prevention of Corruption Act, which has stringent provisions becoming applicable in J&K Union Territory, there is all likelihood that in the coming days more corrupt officers will fall in the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB), Crime Branch (CB) net.
Sources said in the coming months the focus of the investigating agencies will also shift on local politicians, who have amassed huge wealth through illegal means. “Even the former chief ministers involved in corrupt practices will not be spared and they will be thoroughly investigated,” sources revealed. Sources said that after the abrogation of Article 370, there has been a sharp rise in registration of corruption cases against higher officials involved in alleged malpractices.
Sources reveal that around 150 FIRs have been registered by the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) since July, 2020 against officials, which include former chairman of J&K Bank, some chief engineers, superintendent and executive engineers, a few Kashmir Administrative Service (KAS) officers, deputy excise commissioner and senior officers of forest, health, rural development and other departments.
A senior officer of the ACB told Early Times that fresh cases were registered against those officers, who were of the opinion that they will never be touched after committing huge frauds due to their close proximity with the then ruling class of the erstwhile state.
The allegations against officers, which formed the basis for registration of FIRs, include misuse of official position, demand and acceptance of bribe, illegal appointments, embezzlement of funds, allowing of illegal constructions by obtaining pecuniary benefits, possessing disproportionate assets, tampering of official records, facilitating encroachment of government land, use of sub-standard construction material, vesting of ownership rights of land illegally and forgery etc. |
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