Guwahati: Meghalaya Chief Minister Conrad K Sangma has clarified that Gabriel K Iangrai, Commandant of the elite Special Forces-10, was not arrested for any alleged vehicle scam but in connection with the construction of some buildings allotted to the police department.
Iangrai was arrested on Wednesday.
Sangma reiterated that there is no such thing as a vehicle scam and it is all about certain allotment issues, which cannot be termed as scam.
The chief minister said there were allegations of misuse of funds in the construction of buildings and an FIR was lodged. He said that the government’s permission was sought to pursue the case, adding that the law would take its own course.
Iangrai was arrested on based on an FIR lodged against him following an exposé of financial irregularities in the construction of the National Emergency Response System (NERS) and Public Safety Answering Point (PSAP) at the Shillong Sadar Police Station.
The Home Ministry had released Rs 95.78 lakhs for the NERS-PSAP project, taken up by the police department as per a provision of Appendix 9 of the Meghalaya Financial Rules, 1981. The provision allows departments other than the Public Works Department (PWD) and Forest Department to execute the work under the supervision of the departmental engineer.
Iangrai, the then Assistant Inspector-General of Police (Administration), had submitted “fake” utilisation certificates of Rs 95.78 lakh in addition to a completion certificate.
The inquiry team found only a filed estimate for the renovation of the Sadar Traffic Branch for Rs 3 lakh.
During investigation, it was found that Iangrai not only submitted a falsified utilisation certificate to the government but after audit objections to the utilisation of Rs 95.78 lakh, he refunded Rs 26,85,389 to the Official AIG (A) account on September 19 this year.
That a false utilisation certificate was submitted and after audit objections, the money, already drawn by Iangrai and which was in his personal custody, was returned, amounts to misappropriation of funds, the inquiry report stated.
The report added, “The total expenditure for the construction of NERS PSAP building is estimated at Rs 33,01,674 when done on a self-help basis.”
The total sanction for the NERS PSAP was Rs 68,37,440 (Rs 3 lakhs for civil work, Rs 62 lakhs for structure and Rs 3,37,440 for electrification). The balance amount left was Rs 35,35,793. Iangrai had returned Rs 26,85,389. A balance of Rs 8,50,404 is still in his personal custody.
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