The Union Culture Ministry and the CBI have finally woken up to the scam at the Indian Museum here, where about Rs 18 crore is reported to have been siphoned off by a well-networked cartel between 2004-'06. Following a report in The Sunday Express on the racket, a seven-member team of the CBI's anti-corruption wing conducted raids on the museum and the residences of six top museum officials, including one of the deputy directors who has since retired, over the past two days. A CBI team raided the museum's offices today too. An official said it was a search operation and various documents were seized. The premises of half-a-dozen firms that had bagged contracts for museum renovation work on the basis of fake documents and disclosures have also been raided. The residences of the proprietors of some of these firms were searched. The CBI is scrutinising the financial statements, bank accounts and other related documents of these firms. A senior official said arrests are likely to be carried out soon.Meanwhile, the Union Ministry of Culture has informed West Bengal Governor Gopal Krishna Gandhi, who is also the chairman of the Board of Trustees for the Indian Museum, that a director from the department had carried out preliminary inspection of the museum this week. Another senior official is slated to visit the museum soon to probe the matter. The Governor was further informed that the ministry has framed chargesheets against several museum officials, which will be served after the Board of Trustees meets in Delhi in February-end. The ministry has also asked the Indian Museum to stop all work related to other museums in the Northeast.When contacted by The Sunday Express, Professor C R Panda, the acting director of the Indian Museum, refused to meet.
