Jerath challan highlights modus operandi

It is alleged in the challan that Jerath placed supply orders on those firms which worked through middlemen Dinesh Sharma, Suresh Sharma and Sunil Kaila. The middlemen, the challan alleges, arranged the commissions in exchange for the supply orders. The firms which refused to line the pockets were ignored. Jerath allegedly received Rs 43,35,800 from the Sharma brothers alone between September 10, 1995, and March 26, 1997. This amount has been mentioned in the diaries seized from the residence of the Sharmas.

Raids and consequent investigations revealed that Jerath had received kickbacks to the tune of over Rs 70 lakh, the challan alleges. It states that his movable and immovable assets exceeded his known sources of income by Rs 57,76,000. While his income between 1991 to 1997 should have been Rs 11,35,000, it was found to be Rs 67,11,000.

The challan has the diaries recovered from the residence of the Sharma brothers and Sunil Kalia as annexures which are listed as 8220;extremely important documents8221;. These dairies have details of kickbacks allegedly received by Jerath, apart from payments made to his personal assistant R P Vashishth and other officials of the department.

He also allegedly constituted a Purchase Cell and appointed Vashishtha, a low-ranking JE Jagdeep Gandhi, and XEN N.K. Gupta to process cases of supply orders, instead of appointing people with finance background.

The challan mentions the statement of A.S. Gulati, XEN HQ, who, it states, admitted that the middlemen arranged seminars where commissions used to be taken. It also alleges that Jerath maintained regular accounts with the Sharmas, and while he accepted the commission in the office, his peon Hira Mani did not allow the visitors to enter.

Jerath, the challan alleges, pressurised his officers to earmark large requirement of materials. The statement of itemwise inventory shows that material purchased during 1994-95 is still lying unused. Also, Jerath forced purchase of costly items. In one instance, he ordered mirror optic fittings in place of simple tubelights, just because the fittings were being supplied by Kalia8217;s firm, alleges the challan.

The challan states that Kalia and Jerath shared close relations. Where Jerath arranged Rs 1.5 lakh for Kalia8217;s brother-in-law, Kalia arranged Jerath8217;s stay during his Singapore tour. Jerath also worked to give contracts of PVC flooring at Government Medical College, Sector 32, and BEd College, Sector 20, to Kalia8217;s firms, the challan alleges.

The challan makes a mention of the purchases made by Jerath: land near Panchkula, house in Sector 16 in his wife8217;s name, plot in the name of his son and father-in-law. It alleges that no amount established as kickbacks was drawn by Jerath from his bank accounts and the property of his family members has not been shown in the annual property returns.