FIR against 3 ex-chiefs of Jharkhand power board

The graft was detected when the Income Tax and the Enforcement Directorate sleuths,during their nationwide raids on the premises of former chief minister Madhu Koda and his associates,searched the residence of IVRCL’s Lucknow-based Assistant General Manager (Project) D K Srivastava and recovered Rs 50,000 in cash and jewellery worth Rs 20 lakh on October 9,2009.

The FIR states that the JSEB,under Rajiv Gandhi Grameen Vidutikaran Yojna,had invited bids for electrifying 2,350 villages,671,536 villages and 1,568 villages in Latehar,Palamau and Garhwa dictricts respectively — on June 29,2006 when Koda held the portfolio of power. Subsequently,the JSEB awarded a Rs 503.42 crore contract to IVRCL.

Later,Pandey,Verma and Lal,who took over the JSEB in that order,allegedly released Rs 391.16 crore to the company without securing utilisation certificates. “This was grossly illegal. It breached the terms and conditions of the contracts,” states the FIR.

The FIR further states that in making the funds available to IVRCL’s Srivastava,JSEB’s two in-service members — G N S Munda and S N Choudhary —had “forwarded the IVRCL’s file without taking stock of the works done by it”.

The IT and ED sleuths,who had interrogated IVRCL’s officials including Srivastava,had recorded their statements wherein they admitted that their company had paid Rs 98 crore as bribe to several government functionaries,including the “CM’s office” and the three former chairmen,to bag the contract.