Two years after gold worth Rs 70 crore was reported to have been stolen from the Delhi government’s sales tax department, six officers suspended in the case have finally agreed to und-ergo narco-analysis test to help the investigators to crack the mystery behind the sensational theft. The government is also set to initiate departmental proceedings against the six suspects in the matter.
The officers under the scanner of the city administration’s vigilance wing are former joint commissioner of sales tax department Asheesh Mohan, VAT officer Hom Karan, VAT inspectors Ravinder Singh, Praveen Kumar and Pankaj Kumar and Danics officer Joginder Singh.
A highly-placed source said that all the six officers have given their consent to undergo brain mapping test to help the investigato-rs to crack the mystery. While the mystery about the seized gold still rema-ins unsolved, the government is reportedly in the process of taking penal action against the six officers.
In the narco-analysis test, a person is injected with truth serum that make them uninhibited and talkative. In the narco test, the person’s imagination is neutralised by making them semi-conscious. In this state, it becomes difficult for anyone to lie and their answers are restricted to facts they are already aware of.
Earlier, an inquiry committee headed by then principal secretary (home) Archana Arora had blamed the six officials for criminal lapses that had resulted in the theft of gold worth Rs 70 crore in May 2014. Ms Arora’s report had punched gaping holes in the claims of the senior officials of the trade and taxes department, who had deliberately kept the gold that was seized in the office premises for more than a week and after that it was kept in conference hall without any security. The report had also questioned the conduct of VAT officials who were allegedly running a cartel.
It was surprising that these senior officials had neither informed the then trade and taxes commissioner Prashant Goyal nor had they got the seized gold valued. It had posed serious doubts on the conduct of these officials, including special commissioner Mohan. The report was then sent to the vigilance department for further departmental action against these officials.
The then chief secretary S.K. Srivastava had ordered an inquiry by the home secretary into the details of the gold controversy that had sullied the image of the city government. The chief secretary had ordered the probe into the circumstances leading to detection and seizure of precious articles by the enforcement team of the trade and taxes department and whether procedures were adhered to by the enforcement team while confiscating goods. The chief secretary had asked the inquiry team to unravel the “circumstances and arrangement for storage of seized materials and whether adequate security arrangements were made to guard the stored material.
