Ashok Khemka writes to CBI chief to pursue investigation in seed scam

By NewsGram Staff Writer

Chandigarh: IAS officer Ashok Khemka wrote a letter to CBI Director Anil Sinha on Friday regarding the agency's closure report in the Haryana seed scam. In his letter Khemka said, "It appears that the closure report is not based on sound professional grounds."

Khemka revealed this scam two years ago when he was the Managing Director of Haryana Seed Development Corporation (HSDC) and said that the corporation purchased around one lakh quintal of wheat seeds at higher rates in 2010.

In the report submitted recently in the state assembly, the Comptroller of Auditor General (CAG) stated that the state had purchased the seeds at higher rates resulting in extra expenditure of approximately Rs 3 crore.

But the CBI closure report said that allegations of buying certified wheat seeds at outrageous rates (and so causing a loss to the state exchequer) could not be confirmed.

However, Khemka said that the closure report seems to be based on the defence of suspects and private suppliers "deliberately ignoring his complaint and completely overlooking several incriminating evidence available on record which clearly establish the guilt of the suspects acting in criminal collusion causing wrongful losses to the state exchequer."

Earlier in April this year, when Khemka was unexpectedly transferred by Haryana's BJP government led by Manohar Lal Khattar the officer had tweeted that the action was "painful".

Pointing out the possibility of a conspiracy of some officials of Haryana government and central cooperative agencies with private suppliers, the IAS officer claimed that illegal gains in such transactions by suppliers were shared with people on the buy side. "It is clear to any discerning mind that the purchase procedure adopted was tailor-made to misappropriate government money by taking private seeds supplies at higher than market rates through the backdoor," he was quoted as saying to a newspaper.