HYDERABAD: The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has registered a case of cheating and criminal misconduct against former officials of National Institute of Rural Development (NIRD) at Hyderabad, private contractors and several other unknown employees for causing a wrongful loss of Rs 1.22 crore to the institution.
The irregularities which took place in the process of awarding tenders for printing training material and payments to the contractors, for the nationwide orientation of Barefoot Technicians (BFT) in collaboration with the International Labour Organization (ILO) in 2015 and 2016, came to light recently.
Preliminary inquiries revealed that Dr Rajnikanth, former professor at NIRD, Dr Papamma, former Editor and Sridhar Goud, former Accounts Officer, with the active involvement of other concerned officials pulled off the fraud. Payment to the tune of `1.56 crore in excess was made to two contractors hired for printing the material.
Inquiries further revealed that the accused resorted to irregularities by falsely justifying bills, quotations, no stock accounting, no certification about the quantity of tenders called. Market rates were not obtained by calling quotations and there was no competition certificate. The printed material was not brought into the campus and dispatched from the printing locations themselves. There was no record to show the quantity claimed to be printed, has been printed or not.