Sultanpur Lodhi: Kapurthala police have registered a case against five food and civil supply department officials, including four inspectors, for allegedly siphoning off 24,000 quintals of wheat meant for Atta Dal scheme beneficiaries in Sultanpur Lodhi.
The move came after Kapurthala district food supply controller Geeta Bishambhu on July 26 had written to Kapurthala SSP Harkamalpreet Singh Khakh, seeking legal action against two of the five accused, Vivek Gupta and Bhupinder Singh, after a department inquiry nailed them for siphoning off wheat.
A case under Sections 409, and 120B of the IPC and 13(2) of the Prevention of Corruption Act against Vivek Sharma, Bhupinder Singh, Vikas Sethi, Rameshwar Singh, all food supply inspectors, and Munish Bassi, assistant food supply inspector.
The accused were posted at Sultanpur Lodhi between October 2020 and May 2021 and had been suspended by Food and civil supplies minister Bharat Bhushan Ashu after a probe on the complaint filed by local Congress MLA Navtej Singh Cheema in June this year, officials said.
Sultanpur Lodhi DSP Sarwan Singh Bal said the accused were booked on the basis of a departmental inquiry report and further investigation is underway.
Later, in the inquiry, it had come to fore that the department’s Sultanpur Lodhi centre didn’t provide records of wheat distribution to the inspection teams despite repeated orders, holding them guilty of grave negligence.
5 suspended food supply officials finally booked for siphoning off 24k quintals wheat in Sultanpur Lodhi
