CBI files first chargesheet against Yadav Singh, wife in graft case

Ghaziabad: The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Tuesday filed the first chargesheet against suspended Noida Chief Engineer Yadav Singh, his wife and 12 others including three companies in a case of alleged corruption in handing out lucrative projects worth crores of rupees.

Keeping the option for further probe open, CBI said investigation into 1,280 contract bonds amounting to Rs 959 crore signed during his tenure at Noida is still going on.

In the chargesheet, the agency has named Singh, his wife Kusumlata, Project Engineer (PE) Ramendra Singh, APEs Devi Ram Arya and Jaipal Singh, JEs Rajeev Kumar, RD Sharma and Om Pal Singh, company Tirupati Constructions and its Managing Partner VK Goel, JSP Construction and its partner Pankaj Jain, NKG Infrastructure and its Managing Director Pradeep Garg.

Singh was arrested on February 3 while Ramendra was held on December 19, 2015.

The agency has charged them with criminal conspiracy, cheating and forgery under IPC, besides abuse of official position and bribery under Prevention of Corruption Act.

They said the chargesheet was filed in connection with alleged corruption in laying of underground electric cable in Udyog Marg and MP-1 Marg in Noida.

The CBI has alleged that JSP Infrastructure got the contract of Rs 21.99 crore and Tirupati Construction got Rs 25.53 crore of work for laying of underground cable on December 8, 2011.

However, the work had already been started by these companies in September, 2011 and by the time the contract was officially given to them in December that year, they had completed 60 percent of the work.

The tenders were issued in March, 2011 and bids were opened in late November, 2011.

Yadav Singh also allegedly gave contract worth Rs 34.77 to NKG Infrastructure for the same work without completing any tender formalities, it alleged.

CBI sources said that illegal remittances were received in the name of Kusumlata, wife of Singh, in the form of various investments and layered transactions. She was not named in the FIR but her name was included after her active role emerged during the investigation.

They claimed the investigation has brought out a well-oiled machinery working in the Noida office in which bribes percolated from top to bottom even as contracts were being given in violation of the laid down norms.

Ramendra had spilled the beans about the manner in which bribes were allegedly taken and distributed among officials in Noida, the sources said.

They said he had allegedly maintained a diary in which details of commission and its distribution in the chain of officials were meticulously recorded.