Srinagar: Anti-Corruption Bureau, on Tuesday registered a case against Managing Director, other officers and officials of the JAKFED in connection with the bulk purchase of cement at highly exorbitant rates to cause “huge loss” to the state exchequer.

“A verification was conducted to look into the allegations that the MD and other officers and officials of JAKFED had made a bulk purchase of cement without any demand in lieu of pecuniary benefit and dumped the stock at Ware House Store/Railway Complex Store, thereby causing loss of Rs. 15 per bag on account of carriage charges,” the anti-graft body said in a statement. He had also allotted the contract for loading and unloading of cement of Railway Station valuing of Rs. 30 lakh illegally after obtaining gratification etc, it said.

“It came to fore during verification that from April-2010 to August 2010 JAKFED procured Shree Cement (OPC) at the rate of Rs. 224 per bag, whereas during the financial year 2010-11, its sister agency Store Procurement Department (SPD) procured the same brand of cement at the rate o Rs. 187.31/- per bag,” it said.

The ACB said that the verification revealed that JAKFED procured the cement at an inflated cost of Rs. 36.69 per bag, which was higher than the rate at which Store Procurement Department procured the same. “On this count, loss to the tune of Rs. 704448 was inflicted upon the state exchequer.”

The verification further revealed that the profit margins and sale margins were also increased beyond the permissible limits through which gains worth lakhs were obtained and usurped, he said.

“In this way the officers/officials of JAKFED by abuse of their official position, by acting in league with each other and with the supplier firms, for their own pecuniary gains, purchased the cement at exorbitant rates and caused huge loss to the state exchequer,” it said, adding, “It surfaced that these commissions on the part of officers/officials of JAKFED namely Ravinder Gupta, the then MD JAKFED, Sham Lal Sharma the then AGM JAKFED (now retired), Mukesh Damral, Sr. Manager (K/M) JAKFED, Jalal Din Dar the then Manager Accounts JAKFED (now retired), Sanjeev Sachdeva Manager Accounts JAKFED, Puran Chand, Manager Personnel and DVO JAKFED, Naveen Chander, Chief Accountant, JAKFED, Sh. Gurdas Dingra, the then FA/CAO JAKFED (now retired), Sh. Girdhari Lal Abrol General Manager JAKFED, the Prop. Of the firm Shree Cement and others, constitute offences under section 5 (1) (d) read with section 5 (2) JK PC Act and section 120-B RPC. Consequently case FIR No. 14/2019 was registered at P/S ACB Jammu for investigation.”