In Bihar, now securities scam

IG EOW Manoje Nath, who first pointed out this racket saying it involved certificates worth at least Rs 600 crore, was promoted and transferred even before investigations could begin. The CBI subsequently declined a state police request to take over the case.

But DGP Narayan Mishra has now sounded the alarm after police in Palamau, Jharkhand found that stolen NSC/KVP certificates had been deposited for earnest money by government contractors.

Mishra has written to the state Home Secretary, seeking a probe: ‘‘The NSC/KVP certificates stolen from Patna junction may have been used by contractors working for the public health engineering, public works and irrigation departments and an inquiry into this is necessary.’’

The report by Manoje Nath — it was his last in his capacity as IG-EOW — spoke of a well organised racket, involving the theft and circulation of NSCs and KVPs.

‘‘By omission and commission,’’ the report stated, ‘‘officials in all sections, from the starting point at the Indian Security Press in Nashik to the Central Stamp Depot in Patna, collaborated in the racket.’’

The modus operandi was simple: The ISP would send the consignment as miscellaneous stationery, ‘‘value assessed in terms of its weight as stationery.’’ It would reach the stamp depot where it would be received as ‘‘open delivery’’ — in other words, the packet had been tampered with — and entered as received with ‘‘shortage.’’

The ‘‘shortage’’ would be compensated by the Railways, valued only for its weight. ‘‘In one case, KVP worth Rs 4.5 crore was valued at Rs 1,920. In another instance, ‘227 kg’ of KVP was reported missing. There was no visibly aggrieved party except the faceless, hapless and unaware tax payer. There was no one to spoil the party,’’ the report stated.

In many instances, the postal department did not even bother to file an FIR. Between 1995 and 2000, only five FIRs were filed with the police in this connection. In one case — Gandhi Maidan PS case no 25/97 — a huge cache of postal orders and stamps were acknowledged to have been stolen only after they were recovered.

‘‘The Nashik security press itself doesn’t seem to attach any greater sanctity to these freely tradeable securities and certitificates… No special security or yarding instructions are issued and they are loose-shunted at will. Consignments take anything over six months to reach Patna from Nashik. After that they keep getting shunted,’’ the report stated.

‘‘Should the loss be finally accepted, the Railways settle their claim on the basis of the value as stationery. The ISP Nashik never sends to know what happened to the securities dispatached. The recipient does not show any eagerness either.’’

Tampered consignments and stuffed pilferage keep lying in the parcel godown. Sometimes, stamps dispatached by the ISP takes more than three years to reach the Central Stamp Depot in Patna and not much keenness seems to have been shown by either organisation to investigate the inordinate delay.’’

The loss of KVP and NSC was even mentioned in the CAG report in 1998 — it estimated that between 1995 and 1998, nearly 200 crore worth of certificates were stolen.

The EOW estimated that at least Rs 600 crore worth certificates were stolen over a decade.

How these certificates have been used is indicated by the investigation of Palamau police. A contractor named Gupteshwar Singh submitted some certificates, stolen from Patna in 1998, at Daltonganj road sub-division to get a contract.