The Thiruvananthapuram city Corporation has demanded a vigilance inquiry into allegations of fraud in the Industries department’s scheme for Scheduled Caste (SC) persons for starting new ventures, Mayor Arya Rajendran told a special council meeting convened on Friday to discuss the issue.
An internal probe conducted in July had unearthed fraud in the documentation of 17 out of the total 33 groups which submitted applications to start new ventures.
The special council meeting was convened following the demands of the councillors of the Opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). BJP councillor M.R. Gopan, who opened the discussions, said that it was clear that officials alone could not pull off such a crime, which clearly was executed after careful planning. Though the investigation had begun in July, it had failed to zero in on the real perpetrators of the crime and stopped at a few arrests of people down the order.
Unsatisfactory
United Democratic Front councillor Padmakumar also said that the Opposition councillors had to repeatedly raise the issue due to the unsatisfactory way in which the probe had been progressing.
The Mayor hit back saying that the entire issue came to light because of an internal probe by the administration. The Corporation had filed a complaint with the Museum police on July 15. The Mayor held a press conference and spoke on the ongoing investigation on July 19, after which the Opposition too came to know about it.
