Koraput: The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) Friday started an inquiry into the alleged misappropriation of funds by officials including a senior manager of Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL), Koraput.
A case was registered against three officials – a senior manager (finance), engine division Koraput; an assistant (finance/accounts) and a job contract labour officer; finance department and five other private persons on the charge of misappropriation of public money, the company said in a statement Thursday.
The case was registered under sections of the IPC including 120(B), 409, 420, 467,468 and 471 and Section 13(1) (a) of the prevention of Corruption Act, 1988 (as amended in 2018).
It was alleged that the eight accused, including the three officials entered into a criminal conspiracy and misappropriated an amount to the tune of Rs 5.01 crore by fraudulently transferring the money to the account of private contractors and other unknown persons without any supporting documents during the period between January 2018 and August 2018.
The accused senior manager has been identified as 42 yr old Bhavan Maitra, posted in the bill section of HAL since 2011. The other accused are Abinash Kumar Sarkar, Subhashree Das, Jayaram Garada,B Maharana, Jisudan Khosa, Urdhab Khosla and Sadananda Nayak.
After a written complaint from Uday Kumar Raut, manager (vigilance), engine division of HAL Sunabeda October 11, the CBI had Tuesday registered cases against the accused. The move followed searches conducted at the office/residential premises of the accused which led to the recovery of incriminating documents/articles.
During probe it was learnt that the accused misappropriated funds by producing fake vouchers. This came to light during a recent internal audit conducted by the DGM (Finance). The case was subsequently handed over to the company’s internal vigilance wing.
It may be called that a case had been registered against Maitra with Sunabeda Police Station October 8 for the same offence and he has been absconding since then. Earlier, while raiding his official residence in the HAL township, police had seized half –burnt notes of various denominations worth Rs 1.67 lakhs.
Police said Maitra is a permanent resident of MV-74 village in Malkangiri district.
PNN