CBI lodges fresh case in Rs 1,200 cr subsidy scam
The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has opened a new investigation into the alleged Rs 1,200 crore subsidy scam that occurred in 2000, after the Allahabad High Court ruled that the investigation was inadequate and that a thorough investigation was required. The federal investigation agency will file a progress report in the case on March 21. Ujjawal Trading Company, Jhansi, supplied rock phosphate to Madan Mahadev Fertilizers & Chemical pvt Ltd in 2000. Subsidies were obtained from the UP government's agriculture department. However, it was later discovered that rock phosphate was never supplied and that the entire amount was syphoned off. The UP government discovered the scam in 2000, and the agriculture department launched an investigation. An embezzlement of Rs 48,18,243, as well as a government subsidy claimed, were discovered to be false and frivolous transactions. Following this, the UP Police filed a case in 2004 against 20 defendants, including firms. In 2019, the UP Police filed a charge sheet against only two of the accused. Later, in 2021, a supplementary charge sheet was filed in the case against three people, and Mahadev Fertilizers and Chemical Ltd was given the green light. The investigation, however, did not satisfy the court."Mahadev Fertilizers and Chemical Ltd was given a clean chit in the matter, but it was not shown how and under what conditions the clean chit was given, or what happened to the remaining Rs 1,152 crore." The counsel for Ujjawal Trading Company, Jhansi, which supplied rock materials to Madan Mahadev Fertilizers and Chemical pvt Ltd, contended that the company's true owner was Ashutosh Kumar Modi, not Avinash Kumar Modi (his brother). The firm had closed in 1995, but U.N. Modi, their CA, kept the firm alive on paper and completed the transaction without the owner's or his brother's permission, and thus the owner and his brother were innocent. The federal investigation agency has now formed a team to prepare a response, which will be filed on March 21.