Gaurav Sagar BhaskarFerozepur
Aug 24, 2024 10:58 PM IST
The accused, from the department of ministry of defence, were arrested by the vigilance team on an army personnel’s complaint
The Punjab Vigilance Bureau caught two auditors of Controller General of Defense Accounts (CGDA) red-handed on Saturday while they were accepting a bribe of 1.3 lakh to cover up alleged audit discrepancies in an Indian Army unit.
₹1.3 lakh. (HT File)” title=”The auditors were caught red-handed while accepting bribe to the tune of 1.3 lakh. (HT File)” />Ferozepur vigilance bureau senior superintendent of police (SSP) Gurmeet Singh said that the arrests were made following a complaint lodged by Naib Subedar Satya Prakash of the 17 Rajput Regiment.
The complainant said that during the 2023-24 audit of his unit, the accused demanded a bribe of 1.5 lakh to resolve ‘audit discrepancies’ from both the previous and current financial years. The deal was settled for 1.3 lakh, he said.
“On Wednesday, auditors Jagjit Singh and Amit reportedly summoned the complainant to his office and reiterated the bribe demand. Accompanied by havildar Dharmaraj of his unit, the complainant recorded the conversation on his mobile phone as evidence,” SSP Gurmeet Singh said.
“Acting on this information, a team, led by DSP, VB Ferozepur range, carried out a swift raid and caught the two auditors red-handed,” the SSP said.
A case has been registered and an investigation is underway to examine the involvement of other officers and personnel, the SSP added.
An army official, pleading anonymity, said, “Audit report has no discrepancies but duo accused made lame excuses to extort money.”
Army spokesperson Gagandeep Kaur, when contacted, expressed an inability to comment on the issue.
