How 5 NIRD officials siphoned off Rs. 1.22 cr in the name of printing material

Hyderabad: The CBI has booked five employees of the National Institute of Rural Development (NIRD) for alleged fraud to the tune of Rs 1.22 crore. Located in Hyderabad, NIRD is an autonomous organization under the ministry of rural development that prints training material.

The crime dates back to 2012 when NIRD signed a contract with Balaji Scan Pvt. Ltd. whose promoter is Aluri Siva Rama Krishna Prasad and Vaishavi Laser Graphics, represented by Varam Sudhakar Reddy. NIRD was designing course material for the nationwide orientation programme of Barefoot Technicians in collaboration with the International Labour Organization.

"It is alleged that even though the rate contract was in force, a separate quotation was obtained from Balaji Scans for Rs. 48.66 lakh at a cost of Rs. 3,800 for printing four pages of a multi-coloured set against the contract amount of Rs. 2,800. It is alleged that an amount of Rs. 1.2 crore was paid extra to the two firms between 2015 and 2016," the CBI said.

It further added that unknown NIRD officials had committed several irregularities and awarded high-value printing works on a quotation basis in violation of the General Financial Rules, made payments without obtaining proper sanctions/approvals, and wrongly certified that the rates were within the approved rate contracts

The prime accuse includes Dr. Rajanikant Gundabolu, the then associate professor of NIRD; Dr. Kondaveeti Papamma, former editor; Gandi Venkata Swamy Sridhar Goud, accounts officer; Aluri Ramakrishna Prasad; and Varam Sudhakar Reddy.

Both Dr. Gundabolu and Dr. Papamma falsely justified the bills and quotations. No stock accounting or certification was done and no tenders were called. Whenever there was a query, the duo covered up the wrongdoings and gave false justifications. Further, the printed material was not even brought to NIRD but was dispatched from the printers, revealed the CBI investigation.

The CBI booked the five accused, including the two firms, under various sections of the IPC and the Prevention of Corruption Act.