IAS got over Rs 5cr as bribe & sent money to family: CID

AVIJIT SINHA, TT, Siliguri, Aug. 2: Arrested IAS officer Godala Kiran Kumar had allegedly received about Rs 6 crore as bribes and transferred the money to his wife’s family in Andhra Pradesh through hawala channels.

The allegations were made by the CID in the chargesheet filed in connection with the alleged misappropriation of funds at the Siliguri Jalpaiguri Development Authority (SJDA).

Kiran Kumar, his wife’s stepfather Edigineni Guruppa Naidu and his brother-in-law Angalakurty Uday Chaithanya have been named in the chargesheet. Trinamul leaders who were on the SJDA board at the time of the alleged fraud and two hawala operators have been made witnesses in the case.

According to CID sources, Ajit Banerjee, the owner of the Calcutta-based Eureka Trader Bureau that had been awarded contracts to build the electrical crematoriums and implement some other projects, had received around Rs 60.74 crore although not a single scheme was completed. Kiran Kumar was the CEO of the SJDA from 2011 to 2013 when over Rs 60 crore was allegedly misappropriated in connection with several projects, including the construction of three electric crematoriums and a sewerage system and the installation of CCTV cameras.

“After receiving the payments from the SJDA, Banerjee gave Rs 5 crore to Rs 6 crore to Kiran Kumar through hawala transactions between September 2012 and January 2013. It has been found that Banerjee used to hand over the money to a person at Burrabazar. This man would contact another person in Chennai and ultimately, the money would be handed over to one Naidu and one Anand, both residents of Nellor in Andhra Pradesh,” a CID source said.

Both suspected hawala operators Chirag Prajapati in Calcutta and Sharad Gaikowad in Chennai, have been interrogated and they have admitted to carrying out the transactions.

As the CID trawled through the call records of four cellphones of Kiran Kumar, it was found that he had contacted Banerjee and the two hawala traders several times, sources in the agency said. “Further investigations revealed the identities of both Naidu and Anand. While the first is Edigineni Guruppa Naidu, who is the stepfather of Kiran Kumar’s wife, the other is Angalakurty Uday Chaithanya, his wife’s brother,” the CID source said.

The agency mentioned in the chargesheet that the duo were absconding and had appealed to the court to issue arrest warrants against them. Apart from the IAS officer and his two in-laws, 13 others were also named in the chargesheet. While 10 are owners or representatives of private firms which were awarded the contracts, the remaining three are suspended engineers of the SJDA.

Gautam Ghosal, the deputy superintendent of the CID, who filed the chargesheet, has also put a list of 97 witnesses. In the list of witnesses, there are names of police officers of different ranks, advocates, employees of the SJDA and bank officers. Trinamul leaders and SJDA board members, MLA Rudranath Bhattacharya, Chandan Bhowmik, Ranjan Silsharma and Nantu Paul, are also listed as witnesses. Another board member at the time of the alleged defalcation, Congress MLA Sankar Malakar, has also been made a witness.

Except Paul, all other board members were interrogated by the Siliguri metropolitan police.

Asok Bhattacharya, the Siliguri mayor and the convenor of the Darjeeling district Left Front, said the former CEO was made a scapegoat and the government was trying to save the Trinamul leaders. "That is why we have been demanding a CBI probe into the scam. It is clear that the board members cannot evade their responsibilities. They were even interrogated earlier and now they have been made witnesses," said Bhattacharya.

A senior lawyer echoed Bhattacharya. "It seems Atri Sharma, one of the lawyers engaged by Kiran Kumar, had realised his client would have to bear the brunt and others would be saved. That is why he has time and again pointed out that the (SJDA) board members should also be brought under the purview of investigation," said the senior lawyer.

While Rudranath Bhattacharya said he would continue to co-operate with the investigation, Sankar Malakar said he would prefer not to comment as the matter was sub-judice.