3 officials held in Delhi for embezzling welfare funds

NEW DELHI: Three government officials, including a deputy commissioner of the Municipal Corporation of Delhi, were arrested by the Delhi government’s Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) for allegedly siphoning off crores of rupees meant for social welfare projects.

Sanjoy Gihar, deputy commissioner of Shahdara south zone, was among the three arrested by the ACB, a senior official said.

The arrests came after investigations into a case registered three months ago about siphoning off money from projects of the social welfare department by officials with the help of middlemen.

Gihar was joint director in the social welfare department and had allegedly embezzled the money with two other officials with the help of Ravi Goel, who allegedly provided them forged documents for the purpose.

The other officials who were arrested are MJN Pudu, supervisor of the Beggars House project, and P Anand Rao, supervisor of the Asha Kiran project.

The officials allegedly misappropriated the money while purchasing equipment for the Beggars House and other projects, the official said.

Four persons were earlier arrested in connection with the case.