JOIN USChild welfare officers raided
Taking suo motu action to ‘stem the rot’ in the Department of Women and Child Development (DWCD), the Lokayukta police on Friday raided 25 locations in the State including the houses of three senior officers in the department.
Raids were conducted on the house of former director of DWCD, Shamla Iqbal, who is alleged to have received kickbacks from Christy Friedgram Industries (CFI) for awarding the contract to it to provide nutrition supplements, medicine and toys to the beneficiaries of the Integrated Child Development Scheme (ICDS).
The Lokayukta police also raided the houses of DWCD’s Joint Director Usha Patwari and Assistant Director Muniraju.
In total, the police raided 25 locations in the State, including 10 locations in Bangalore and three each in the four districts of Mysore, Tumkur, Raichur and Bidar.
The three locations raided in each of the districts were the anganwadi centres, food processing units and the Child Development Scheme office. More than 100 Lokayukta police personnel took part in the raid with 10 teams conducting raids in Bangalore and four teams across other districts.
Addressing the media, Additional Director General of Police (ADGP) H N S Rao said the Lokayukta action was based on the complaints against Iqbal and the two officers having accepted kickbacks from CFI for awarding the scheme, apart from various reports on the substandard food being supplied to the beneficiaries of ICDS across the State.
The raids conducted on the office of the DWCD in Bangalore has yielded “incriminating documents” regarding the tender for the supply of food and also the transaction details related to the ICDS programme with the CFI.
The Lokayukta police also raided the offices of the CFI in Malleswaram and their production units in the four districts.
A Toyota Innova (KA 03 ML 7393) that was parked in front of Shamla Iqbal’s house was seized during the raid as it was gifted by the CFI. “The vehicle has established a clear link between the CFI and Iqbal,” said an officer. This apart, it is also said that the Lokayukta police seized several documents that suggest that Iqbal had financed the construction of a commercial complex on Church Street in Ulsoor through the kickbacks she had received from the CFI.
The ADGP added that several food samples from the production units across the State were taken for testing quality. “Once the test results are obtained, we will compare the nutrition content in the food supplied to the beneficiaries with the nutrition content mentioned in the MoU signed between the DWCD and the CFI in 2007,” said a Lokayukta officer.
With an allocation of Rs 610 crore each year towards the ICDS, the entire magnitude of the scam is yet to be ascertained in the State.