GP chief, secy in housing scam

Duo allegedly cheated 7 women of houses; pocket Rs 2.45 lakh

In a classic case of fence eating the crop, president and secretary of Melur Gram Panchayat here have allegedly siphoned off funds to the tune of Rs 2.45 lakh, meant for the housing scheme after collecting signatures of the beneficiaries on the necessary documents.

This follows a request made to the chief executive officer of zilla panchayat to unravel the irregularities. The said officer had instructed the executive officer of K R Nagar taluk panchayat to initiate the probe.

Accordingly, on Saturday, the executive officer Basavaraj along with the president Jyothi and secretary Phanikumar in question, knocked on the doors of the so called beneficiaries only to unearth the scam.

It is alleged that the president and secretary had identified seven houseless ST women of Elemuddanahalli to distribute the facility under Indira Awas Scheme for the year 2008-09 and 2009-10. The duo collected the required documents from the innocent women and submitted the same to the government. When the fund was sanctioned, they collected the signature of the said beneficiaries on a receipt to make it up as received by the beneficiaries.

When the matter came to the notice of gram panchayat members Kurubahalli Govindegowda, Elemuddanahalli Shivarudrappa and former president Tulasiramegowda the trio tipped off the chief executive officer through a letter.

Learning about the incident, K R Nagar MLA Sa Ra Mahesh rushed to the village only to receive the complaints from the victims. They alleged that the president and her husband promised houses, only to pocket Rs 35,000 (funds released for each of the seven houses) totalling Rs 2.45 lakh.

The MLA instructed the accused two to either take measures to fulfil the promise by constructing the houses or face police action.