Chandigarh: A Haryana cadre IAS officer facing investigation by the Anti Corruption Bureau (ACB) in the alleged Rs 200-crore Faridabad Municipal Corporation scam has lodged an FIR alleging extortion calls.
Anita Yadav, who is posted as additional chief executive officer of Faridabad Metropolitan Authority, alleged in the FIR registered Monday that the caller demanded Rs 5 crore to clear her name in the case.
This comes days after the state government granted permission to the ACB to investigate Yadav, another IAS officer, Sonal Goel, and seven other government officials in the case. The alleged scam pertains to the release of payments to contractors without any actual development work on the ground from 2015 onwards. The two IAS officers have denied any role in the scam.
Sonal Goel had moved to Punjab and Haryana High Court after the FIR in the case was registered in March last year and the court has restrained the police from taking any coercive measures against her. That case is still in the court.
In her complaint, registered at Gurugram’s Sector 50 police station, Yadav claimed she had recorded the conversation and can provide the audio video of the phone calls. ThePrint has a copy of the FIR.
Mentioning a phone number from which she allegedly got a call on 3 March, Yadav’s complaint said, “He asked me to make a payment of Rs 5 crore to get my name cleared from a matter that is currently under consideration by the ACB.”
It said the caller, going by the name of Rishi, claimed he was instructed by some politician to contact Yadav.
The FIR added that Yadav was again contacted by the same person the next day and he threatened her that “there would be consequences” if she refused to pay up.
Stating that she was concerned about her family’s safety, Yadav said she recorded the phone conversation and “can provide the audio-video through the electronic medium” for investigation.
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Legal opinion sought
On the officer’s complaint, the SHO of the police station sent the complaint to the District Attorney (DA) for a legal opinion. The DA said that prima facie, a cognizable offence under sections 385 (extortion) and 506 (criminal intimidation) of the IPC was made out.
While the FIR was registered Monday, 6 March, it mentions that Yadav’s complaint was received on 4 March. To that, when ThePrint contacted Yadav on the phone, she said Monday that she had complained to the police on 4 March itself.
“Today, I brought the matter to the notice of state Home Minister Anil Vij after which the police registered my FIR,” she said.
ThePrint tried to call on the mobile number mentioned in the FIR, but it was switched off.
(Edited by Smriti Sinha)
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