BENGALURU: Even after five years of the CID starting an inquiry, the report on the much-debated BBMP multi-crore scam has not seen the light of day. Since 2011, CID officials have been able to complete just 30 per cent of the the probe.
On the then BBMP Commissioner Siddaiah’s instructions, the Technical Vigilance Committee under Commissioner (TVCC) had submitted a report to him. The report stated that there was a `1,539 crore bogus bill scam in Gandhinagar, Malleswaram and Rajarajeshwarinagar divisions.
Siddaiah, in turn, registered an FIR with the Bangalore Metropolitan Task Force on November 4, 2011. BMTF police had arrested Idaya Vendon, the then executive engineer of Gandhinagar division. Soon, several political parties had demanded that the case be handed over to different investigative agencies.
On November 20, 2011, a fire broke out in a room on the third floor of the BBMP headquarters, in which BMTF had kept its documents, giving rise to suspicions.
Finally, on November 28, 2011, the state government ordered a CID probe into the alleged scam as well the fire accident. The CID authorities started the probe on December 6, 2011.
Right from the beginning, there were many hindrances to the probe. One of the reasons for the delay in the probe is BBMP officials not submitting files related to the case.
In fact, in September 2012, the then state police chief Lalrokhuma Pachau had written to then BBMP Commissioner Rajneesh Goel asking BBMP to cooperate with the probe by directing officials to furnish the details. Despite this,officials failed to submit the files.
A senior CID officer told Express that in the first few months of the probe, they had filed 32 chargesheets against some 60 BBMP officials.
In 2013, CID police had written to the Urban Development Department stating BBMP was not co-operating with CID. But nothing was done. Whenever they asked for files related to scam, BBMP officials would give reasons like files were burnt in the 2011 fire accident or the officials concerned were transferred or officials had retired.
“But they did not give it in writing. BBMP officials never co-operated with us,” a CID official said. Also, there is a shortage of PWD engineers deputed to the CID, which is also said to have delayed the probe.
As on date, out of 285 cases, CID has filed 88 chargesheets and as many as 197 cases are still pending. Inspector General of Police (CID) Hemanth Nimbalkar denied there was any delay. “We have filed chargesheets in 88 cases, and remaining cases are in various stages. We cannot say when they will be completed. It will be done,’’ he said. When asked, he denied there were any hurdles including non-cooperation from BBMP.