More than 300 govt officials under investigation: J&K

Srinagar: Over 300 cases against stateofficials are at various stages of investigation, while probein 35 such cases were completed over the past four years, theJammu and Kashmir Government on Wednesday said.[caption id="attachment_1489031" align="alignnone" width="380"] Representational image. PTI[/caption]"As many as 189 cases are registered with State Vigilance Organisation (SVO) against over 450 government officials, Crime Branch of state police is investigating 115 other suchcases," the government said in a written reply in theLegislative Assembly here. Majority of the cases registered under various sectionsof Prevention of Corruption Act and Ranbir Penal Code (RPC)pertained to corrupt practices, misuse of official positionand misappropriation of government funds, besides illegalappointments, frauds and land grabbing, the government said.It said while Jammu wing of the SVO is investigating 95cases registered between 2006 and 2014 against 233 officials,the Kashmir wing of the anti-corruption body is investigating93 such cases registered between 2007-2014 against 195officials.In addition, the Kashmir wing is also re-investigating acase registered in 2000 on the directions of a court, thegovernment said.Investigation by SVO in 32 corruption cases -- 26 inJammu and 6 in Kashmir -- were completed and the accusedofficials were convicted by the special court during 2011-14.The government said Crime Branch is investigating a totalof 115 cases, 66 in Kashmir and 49 in Jammu. Twenty-three ofthe cases have reached the evidence stage while 11 are at theinitial stages.The government said the special judge of theanti-corruption court in Jammu has convicted three officials -two head constables and a store-keeper - between 2012 and2014. PTI