Additional Sessions Judge Anti corruption Udhampur S R Gandhi today rejected the bail application of Rakesh Kumar Pargal of Udhampur, the then Chief Supervisor FCI Godown Udhampur, former Incharge Vigilance Squad in Food, Civil Supplies and Consumer Affairs in alleged 260 Crores Scam.
The facts of the case as reveals from the police report are that a verification conducted by this Bureau inter-alia into the allegations of misappropriation of Rs. 260 crores on account of cost of wheat grains, transportation charges, labour charges drawn on the basis of fictitious and false bills, had revealed acts of omissions and commissions on the part of the officers/Officials of CA & PD Department namely Mr. Muklis Ali, the then Assistant Director, CA & PD Department Udhampur, Abdul Rashid, the then Assistant Director CA & PD Department Udhampur, Joginder Singh, the then Assistant Director CA & PD Udhampur, Romesh Chander, the then Assistant Director CA & PD Udhampur, Romesh Kumar, the then Supervisor, Trikuta Flour Mill Udhampur, Sushma Gupta, the then Supervisor Trikuta Flour Mill, Udhampur, Susheel Kumar, the then Supervisor FCI Godown Udhampur, Rakesh Pargal, the then Supervisor CA & PD posted at FCI Godown Udhampur, Deepak Abrol, the then Incharge, Depot Office SRTC Udhampur, Ramesh Kumar, then Clerk in Deport Office SRTC Udhampur, Sumit Mahajan, Prop. M/S Trikuta Flour Mill Udhampur, Amit Mahajan, Prop. M/S Trikuta Flour Mill Udhampur, Paramdeep Singh@Pumma, Prop. M/S Vikas Transport Company and others, which constituted, prima facie, the commission of offences under Section 5(1),(c), (d) r/w 5(2) J&K PC Act Svt. 2006 and Sections 120-B,420,467,468,471 RPC. Consequently case FIR No. 01/2020 was registered on 19-02-2020 at P/S ACB, Doda for investigation. That, during the course of investigation house search warrants from the Hon’ble Court of Special Judge Anti Corruption, Jammu, were obtained and accordingly house searches at the residential premises of the accused persons were conducted on 20-02-2020 in presence of Magistrates and Independent Witnesses, during the course of which incriminating documents/Items were recovered/seized, which were put to scrutiny and the laptops and hard disk which were seized during the house search proceedings have been sent to CFSL for expert analysis, report whereof is still awaited. That during the course of investigation on perusal of the seized records it was found that some of the original records pertaining to the misappropriation of the govt. money was missing regarding which various officials were called and questioned/examined in detail in order to trace the said record. However, during examination of the officials it surfaced that one of the accused Mr. Rakesh Pargal, ( the applicant herein) who at the relevant time was the Junior assistant CA & PD posted as Supervisor in FCI godown Udhampur had been following and enquiring about the said missing records from the concerned officials and was one of the masterminds who was running the whole nexus of the Govt. officials/contractors and the Mill owners of the Trikuta Flour Mill Udhampur solely in order to misappropriate the Govt. Money, by sheer abuse of his official position. On ascertaining all the possibilities it has emerged that Mr. Rakesh Pargal was instrumental in concealing/misplacing the vital records, which is required for the purpose of investigation. That, strenuous efforts were made to examine Mr Rakesh Pargal, Junior Assistant CA & PD and he was asked to join the investigation but on examination he was found to be non-cooperative and reluctant to divulge/disclose any facts regarding missing record of CA & PD or any other facts of the case, and was found to be deliberately concealing the facts and misleading the investigation and the IO. That , keeping in view the hardcore and non-cooperative attitude of the accused and his record / involvement in various other cases, a need was felt necessary to formally arrest the said accused in order to have his custodial interrogation in order to unravel the truth and logical conclusion of the investigation which is primarily concerned with the abuse of the official position by the public servants and misappropriation of around Rs.260 Crores of the public/ govt. money.
Additional Sessions Judge Anticorruption Udhampur S R Gandhi while rejecting the bail application observed that the investigating agency requires more time to unearth the conspiracy and to retrieve the missing record as well. Having regard to the stage of the investigation, it is not possible to express opinion on the merits of the case. In this case public money involved is huge and thus public interest is involved. In dealing with such cases the consequences of granting bail to an accused involved is always considered with its ultimate impact on the society. The economic offences brings imbalance in the economy of the country thereby affecting the poor public and the State. In the considered view of the court accused-applicant do not deserve to get bail when the investigation is still in progress. There is every possibility of the applicant-accused tampering with the evidence and hampering-the investigation if he is released on bail. JNF