HYDERABAD: AN internal report from the Cotton Corporation of India Limited (CCIL) has revealed that the former senior cotton purchase officer Ramesh Kumar Sharma and the former manager of finance of CCIL had deliberately made incorrect entries in the CCI records and were involved in the siphoning of `57.65 lakh.
Days after the Hyderabad Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) officials registered cases against the two former officers of CCI Ramesh Kumar Sharma and Kamal Kant, the agency initiated probe based on the internal report submitted by the CCI with regard to the alleged irregularities that took place in Warangal and Sadasivapet centres during 2015.
Vajra Cotton Industries management, that undertakes the ginning and pressing of cotton, noticed that as and when they received products from the CCI, they were provided with fake bills to the tune of `57.65 lakh. Upon receiving them, the Vajra Cotton Industries managing partner and his legal advisory sent letters to CCI and its vigilance department seeking inquiry into the alleged irregularities.
“During the cotton season in 2014-15, purchase officers committed various kinds of malpractices like buying kapas from middlemen, traders, commission agents and even from ginning and pressing mills instead of farmers. During the inquiry, no proper records were made available by the Warangal and Sadasivapet staff regarding availability of records,” the vigilance officials said in the internal report. Reportedly, a total 4,024 quintal of cotton seed was shown as delivered from the respective factories to Vajra Cotton Industries from the Sadasivpet centre, whereas the contract quantity was only 2605 quintals.