Itanagar, September 8 (PTI): Three persons, including two government officials, have been arrested in connection with a scam pertaining to the construction of a major road in East Kameng district of Arunachal Pradesh, a police officer said.
Two senior engineers of the public works department, Tare Murtem and Doba Jini, along with the managing director of Hyderabad-based DRB Infrastructure, Ramesh Babu, have been apprehended over the past two days for their alleged involvement in the scam, Superintendent of Police, Special Investigation Cell (vigilance), Hemant Tiwari, said.
"They were arrested on charges of corruption, cheating, forgery and criminal breach of trust pertaining to execution of the Seppa-Chayangtajo road, sanctioned under North East Council (NEC)," he said.
Work on the road which began in 2008 is yet to be completed.
The SP further said that that a case was registered with the investigation cell on March 5 this year by a social activist, alleging that the road has been under construction for over a decade, and more than one billion rupees have been disbursed to various companies involved in building it.
"Murtem was produced before the Special Judge (PCA) Bomdila in West Kameng district on Tuesday, and sent to 14 days'' police custody. Jini and Babu will be produced before the same judge today," Tiwari stated
He said that the investigation cell is also looking for PWD Chayangtajo division''s executive engineer Nyakpu Yangfo, who is currently at large.
"Yangfo has not been cooperating with the police for long. He has approached the Itanagar bench of Gauhati High Court for interim relief, which was denied on Tuesday," the SP explained.
Several incriminating documents have been seized by the special investigation cell sleuths during the course of their investigation.
"The sleuths also visited the construct site for verification on July 26 and 27. On scrutiny, they found out that the work done did not match will the funds spent on the project so far," Tiwari added. PTI UPL
