CBI raids, FIR in PF scam case

Following a registration of a case against an additional central provident fund (PF) commissioner - identified as SK Khanna - and others, the CBI raided about 23 premises in and around Delhi, Chandigarh, Ludhiana, Ghaziabad, Faridabad, Gurgaon, Jaipur, Noida etc on Wednesday.

"The raids have yielded recovery of several incriminating documents relating to immovable and movable belonging to the accused persons and other documents," a CBI spokesperson said.

Pocket money!
Eight senior officials of Employees' Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) have also been booked. "The corruption has caused a loss of about Rs 169 crore to the exchequer," CBI officials said. Khanna was the additional central PF commissioner (North Zone), presently posted in the same capacity in Chandigarh. Apart from him other senior officers (accused) have been identified as MS Kalia, the then Regional Provident Fund Commissioner-1 , Delhi (South), now posted as RPFC Ludhiana and CS Gogna, the then Enforcement Officer, EPFO, Delhi (South) currently working at Jaipur.

Enforcement officers - Bikas Roy, Anup Sharma, Promila Singh, Rajeev Mukherjee, Sudhir Batra and RS Tawar - have been also named in the case," sources said. CBI has alleged that the EPFO officials had entered into a criminal conspiracy with four officials of a Delhi-based firm, BL Kashyap & Sons Ltd.

False cover
"In pursuance to this criminal conspiracy the accused allegedly created false records in respect of certain employees engaged, inflated the number of excluded employees, manipulated the period of engagement of employees and thereby manipulated the amount of Provident Fund liability which was due and payable by the said private firm," a CBI spokesperson said. CBI sources said that apprehensions are likely in the case in the coming days as they were collecting evidence into the matter.u00a0"It is a big scam and we are moving ahead cautiously to avoid any contradictions," sources said.