RUDRAPUR: The special investigation team (SIT) probing the alleged Rs 16 crore wheat seeds scam of Uttarakhand Seeds and Terai Development Corporation Ltd (USTDC), will visit Uttar Pradesh and Bihar to initiate the second phase of investigation.

Additional superintendent of police (ASP) US Nagar and in-charge of the SIT, Devendra Peencha, said that in the first phase of the probe, SIT examined documents and interrogated officers. “We have also verified stocks at warehouses here, and now police teams will visit Bihar and UP, where the wheat seeds were supplied. Stocks will be checked there too and will be matched with the entries in USTDC registers.”

An FIR was registered at Pantnagar police station of Udham Singh Nagar district on August 7 on a complaint filed by senior administrative officer of USTDC, CK Singh. Ten officers of USTDC, including its former managing director (MD), were booked a few days after the probe committee indicted them for denting the public exchequer by Rs 16 crore. US Nagar SSP Sadanand Date constituted the SIT on August 19, after chief minister Trivendra Singh Rawat ordered a detailed probe into the scam. Interestingly, financial irregularities have also been alleged in the appointment of UTSDC ex-chairperson Hemant Dwivedi in 2010 during the rule of the erstwhile Ramesh Pokhariyal Nishank-led BJP government.