BENGALURU: The state government is planning to order a judicial probe into the multi-crore fake bills scam in the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP).
The Criminal Investigation Department (CID) is probing the scam, but the government is concerned about the slow progress in the case. It now wants a Judicial Commission, headed by a retired High Court judge, to take up the investigation.
“The CID probing the `1,539-crore fake bills scam has, so far, not made any significant progress to bring the culprits to book,” Bengaluru Development Minister K J George told reporters on Friday. The CID sleuths are probing at least 250 cases of bogus bill payments, but at least another 4,500 cases are yet to be covered, he said.
The minister added that inadequate logistics and human resource in the CID were proving to be stumbling blocks. “The government has decided to appoint a single-man Judicial Commission, aided by three engineers, to assist the CID,” George said.
He added that the state would write to the Karnataka Chief Justice to recommend a judge to head the probe.
The previous D V Sadananda Gowda-led BJP government had ordered a CID probe into the fake bills scam after an accidental fire in 2011, in which several important files relating to the scam were gutted.
The scam involved officials who, in connivance with elected representatives from Gandhinagar, Rajarajeshwari Nagar and Malleswaram divisions, had misappropriated at least `1,500 crore.
The CID had also arrested several engineers and civil contractors and quizzed them to unearth the culprits.