IAS officer accused of siphoning wheat worth Rs 8 crore surrenders IAS officer accused of siphoning wheat worth Rs 8 crore surrenders

Days after her anticipatory bail plea was rejected by the Supreme Court, IAS officer Nirmala Meena, accused of siphoning off ration worth Rs 8 crore, surrendered before the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) in Jodhpur on Wednesday. Meena was suspended on October 11 last year while she was posted as the Jodhpur District Supply Officer (DSO).

As the DSO, she had sought additional wheat for Jodhpur, claiming addition of new BPL families, but sold the wheat after grinding it in connivance with private flour mills. Ajay Pal Lamba, Superintendent of Police, ACB Jodhpur, said, “In March 2016, Meena wrote a letter to higher officials asking for additional allotment of 35,000 quintal of wheat… stating that 33,000 families have been added in the BPL category in Jodhpur city… There was not a single addition… but she misled the officers,” Lamba said.

“Once the allotted wheat was lifted from Food Corporation of India (FCI) godowns, it wasn’t sent to the Fair Price Shops (FPS) but to private flour mills where it was ground into flour and sold in the market,” Lamba said.

During questioning by ACB on Wednesday, Meena claimed that “senior officers had asked her to send revised letters for the demand and it was on their suggestions that she acted,” prompting the ACB to initiate probe into the role of other officers.

A Rajasthan Administrative Services officer, she was promoted as an IAS officer in July last year, three months before her suspension. As per the ACB, Meena’s assets are valued at about Rs 10 crore. The officer and her immediate family also have 18 accounts which are being probed. Meena will be presented in court on Thursday, Lamba said.

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