CID files charge sheet in NREGS case, suspects state-wide scam

HYDERABAD: The Crime Investigation Department of Andhra Pradesh police has filed a charge sheet in a case related to embezzlement of National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme funds in a village in Kurnool district.

Police believe that embezzlement of NREGS funds across the state could add up to about Rs 757 crore.

The charge sheet was filed before a magistrate's court in Kurnool yesterday, police said in a statement here.

The CID had taken over the probe following High Court's directions and formed a Special Investigation Team ( SIT) which arrested 53 government officials.

The probe revealed that Rs 44.31 lakh of NREGS funds were misappropriated during 2007-13 by withdrawing wages in the name of bogus or ineligible persons.

This alerted the Rural Development Department which conducted a state-wide review and found there were 2,15,623 invalid NREGS job cards.

During 2007-13, about Rs 124.9 crore were paid to these ineligible beneficiaries, according to the CID. However, Additional Director General of Police (CID) T Krishna Prasad said in a release here that the total amount misappropriated in the state could be Rs 757 crore.