India News | Allahabad HC Seeks Probe Report in Alleged Multi Crore Jhansi Scam

Allahabad, Aug 4 (PTI) The Allahabad High Court has directed the Uttar Pradesh government advocate to inform it about the status of investigation and the arrests made in the alleged multi-crore scam that took place while electrifying around 144 villages of Bundelkhand region in Jhansi under the Rajiv Gandhi Gramin Vidyutikaran Yojna.

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Hearing a Public Interest Litigation (PIL), the court further directed the state counsel to find out whether any material evidence has been collected till date to find out the truth of the allegation because a large number of villages were made part of the investigation.

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"If the evidence has been collected in reference to those villages, whether accused there upon have been arrested, if the bail was not granted and if they have not been arrested, the reason thereof," the court added.

The order was passed on July 26 while hearing a PIL filed by Girraj Singh. Acting Chief Justice Munishwar Nath Bhandari and Justice Ajai Tyagi directed listing of this case on August 5 for the next hearing.

According to the petitioner, a contract was given to a Hyderabad-based company under Rajiv Gandhi Rajiv Vidyutikaran Yojna to electrify as many as 144 villages of Bundelkhand. It is alleged that the company in collusion with engineers of state electricity department obtained payment without completing the work.

When the scam came to limelight, an FIR was lodged in this connection on July 5, 2019 at Navabad police station in Jhansi district. Subsequently, the Vigilance Department of the state was entrusted with the task of investigating this scam involving several crores of rupees.

In the present PIL, the petitioner has alleged that the Vigilance Department is not doing its investigation properly. Hence, the petitioner has requested the court to direct the Vigilance Department to complete the investigation at the earliest.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)