Scams In India

British throne passed the Indian Independence Act after that India got the freedom. After Independence British people left the India and Indian Throne was empty. Our Indian people sat on that throne and started to rule India using the same rules and books which were made for the slave colony of India by the British King.

Here is a summary of all scams since independence. These may not be the only ones. These are the ones that were caught and brought to the notice of the public. In total, this is coming up to Rs 910,603,234,300,000, which is equal to USD 20.23 trillion. With this huge amount, India will become a super-power overnight and can permanently kill all social problems mainly poverty and unemployment.

1.     INA Treasure chest disappearance(1947):-

The INA Treasure controversy relates to alleged misappropriation by men of Azad Hind of the Azad Hind fortune recovered from belongings of Subhas Chandra Bose in his last known journey. The treasure, a considerable amount of gold ornaments and gems, is said to have been recovered from Bose’s belongings following the fatal plane crash in Formosa (present day Taiwan) that reportedly killed him, and taken to men of Azad Hind then living in Japan. The Indian government was made aware of a number of these individuals allegedly using part of the recovered treasure for personal use. However, despite repeated warnings from Indian diplomats in Tokyo, Nehru is said to have disregarded allegations that men previously associated with the approval of Nehru government and were later given government roles implementing Nehru’s political and economic agenda. A very small portion of the alleged treasure was repatriated to India in the 1950s.

2.   JEEP Scam (1948):-

The Jeep Scandal in 1948 was first major corruption case in independent India. V.K. Krishna Menon, the then Indian high commissioner to Britain, ignored protocols and signed a Rs 80 lakh contract for the purchase of army jeeps with a foreign firm.

V.K. Krishna Menon, then the Indian high commissioner to Britain, bypassed protocol to sign a deal worth Rs 80 lakh with a foreign firm for the purchase of 200 army jeeps. While most of the money was paid upfront, just 155 jeeps landed, the then Prime Minister Nehru forced the government to accept them. Govind Ballabh Pant the then Home Minister and the then Government of Indian National Congress announced on 30 September 1955 that the Jeep scandal case was closed for judicial inquiry ignoring suggestion by the Inquiry Committee led by Ananthsayanam Ayyangar. He declared that “as far as Government was concerned it has made up its mind to close the matter. If the opposition was not satisfied they can make it an election issue”. Soon after on 3 February 1956 Krishna Menon was inducted into the Nehru cabinet as minister without portfolio. Later Krishna Menon became Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru’s trusted ally and the defense minister.

3.   Mundhra Scandal (1957):-

Today, we see scams worth thousands crores of rupees happening in India. But exactly 59 years ago in 1957, took place Independent India’s first big financial scam. It was called the Mundhra Scandal. Haridas Mundhra scandal is the biggest example- that the branches of corruption grow thicker if their roots are not destroyed at very beginning.

In 1957, Mundhra with his nefarious intentions got the government-owned Life Insurance Corporation (LIC) to invest Rs. 1.24 crores (about USD 3.2 million at the time) in the shares of six troubled companies belonging to none other than Mundhra: Richardson Cruddas, Jessop and Company, Smith Stanistreet, Osler Lamps, Agnelo Brothers and British India Corporation. The investment was done under governmental pressure and it also bypassed the LIC’s investment committee, which was informed of this decision only after the deal had gone through. In the series of events of the first scam of India, LIC suffered loss to most of the money.

During Investigations, the Justice M.C. Chagla (a one-man committee for Commission of Enquiry) determined that the then Finance Secretary of India, Haribhai M. Patel, along with two Life Insurance Corporation of India, L S Vaidynathan, may have colluded on the payment, and should be investigated. Subsequent inquiry committee headed by Retired Justice Vivian Bose cleared the names of two civil servants but passed strictures against finance minister for “lying”. The Finance Minister T. T. Krishnamachari, in his testimony tried to distance himself from the LIC’s decision, implying that it may have been taken by the Finance Secretary, but Justice Chagla held that the Minister is constitutionally responsible for the action taken by his secretary and he disown his actions. Eventually, Krishnamachari had to resign. The Nehru government suffered considerable loss of prestige with the exposure of this incident.

Haridas Mundhra was arrested from his luxury suite at the Claridge’s Hotel in Delhi, and sent to prison. It turned out that Mundhra’s manipulations were not restricted to LIC. The income tax department had curiously withdrawn certain notices pending against him having entered into “some understanding” about the payment of arrears.

4.   BANARAS HINDU UNIVERSITY SCAM (1956):-

In independent India, the first scam to reach the corridors of educational institutes occurred at Banaras Hindu University, where money meant for higher education was misappropriated. Officials of the university were accused of siphoning off grants worth Rs 50 lakh. Several heads rolled after the scam hit the headlines. Though it was the first scam to be reported from the university, it was not to be the last.

5.   Dharma J Teja Loan Scandal (1960):-

In the swinging sixties in India’s capital, one couple who was the talk of the town, was Dharma Jayanti Teja and his glamorous wife. Teja was projected as a successful NRI who had worked his way up from scratch in a typical rags-to-riches story. The Teja couple was known for throwing lavish parties, with the list of guests including bigwigs from political, bureaucratic and business circles. The couple soon gained access to Jawaharlal Nehru which, in turn, raised their stock in the eyes of high society.

Teja, in the garb of a nationalist, projected his desire to do something for the motherland. He undertook to expand India’s maritime fleet with finance from the government. With a recommendation from Nehru, Teja was granted loans worth Rs 22 crore to establish the Jayanti Shipping Company. In 1960, the authorities discovered that he was actually siphoning off money to his own account, after which he fled the country. The investigations revealed that Teja’s financial empire was a mirage. The public sector Shipping Corporation of India took over and assimilated Jayanti Shipping. Teja was tried for massive fraud and sentenced to seven years imprisonment.

6.   Pratap Shingh Kairon Scam (1964):-

Partap Singh Kairon (1 October 1901- 6 February 1965) was the Chief Minister of the Punjab province (then comprising Punjab, Haryana and Himachal Pradesh), and is widely acknowledged as the architect of post-Independence Punjab Province (or Punjab, Haryana and Himachal as of today). Moreover, he was an Indian independence movement leader. He was jailed twice by the British Empire, once for five years for organizing protests against British rule. His political influence and views are still considered to dominate Punjabi politics.

Although it doesn’t raise many eyebrows now when a chief minister of some state is embroiled in a scam, in the decades immediately after independence it was still a novelty. In 1963, Punjab’s chief minister Pratap Singh Kairon and his family were accused of misappropriating public money for personal expenses. The S R Das Commission, constituted to investigate the allegations, exonerated the chief minister from most of the charges but his family members were found to be guilty. The commission exonerated Kairon with a caveat that a chief minister could not escape moral responsibility for his offspring’s actions. Unlike what happens these days, Kairon took the moral responsibility and resigned from the post.

On 6 February 1965, he was on his way from Delhi to Chandigarh when he was waylaid near Rasoi village, Rohtak district and shot dead along with his personal assistant, an IAS officer, and the driver. The three were murdered by Sucha Singh, Baldev Singh and Nahar Singh Fauji. Sucha had planned the killing of Kairon in revenge, because he believed that Kairon had taken a personal interest in securing the conviction of one Ajit Singh and his father Bir Singh in a murder case.

7.  Kalinga tubes scandal (1965):-

Soon after Kairon, another chief minister was caught in a scandal and was also indicted by the investigating authorities. Odisha Chief Minister Biju Patnaik was asked to resign after the charges of corruption against him investigated by HR Khanna Commission were proved correct. He was indicted for awarding a government contract to his privately held company, Kalinga Tubes.

8.  Nagarwala Scandal (1971):-

This scam had all the elements of a perfect Hollywood pot-boiler. The chief cashier of State Bank of India on New Delhi’s Parliament Street, received a cell purportedly from none other than the then prime minister, Indira Gandhi. The caller asked the cashier to pay Rs 60 lakh to a “man from Bangladesh”. On 24 May 1971, former intelligence agent R S Nagarwala, posing as the “man from Bangladesh”, withdrew Rs 60 lakh from the same branch. Nagarwala had apparently “mimicked” Indira Gandhi’s voice. In the course of the probe that followed, investigating officer D K Kashyap was killed in a mysterious car accident and Nagarwala died in prison. The opposition parties, primarily the Janata Party, alleged that the money actually went to Indira Gandhi. A probe commission headed by Jaganmohan Reddy was constituted in 1977, but failed to find any evidence to indict her.

9.  Maruti Scandal (1974):-

Soon after the Nagarwala scandal, Indira Gandhi was embroiled in another incident known as Maruti scandal, though it had more to do with her son Sanjay Gandhi than her. In 1971, Indira’s cabinet rolled out the proposal for producing a ‘people’s car’--- a car that a middle-class Indian could afford. With no prior experience in the automobile industry, Sanjay Gandhi’s Maruti Udyog Ltd was awarded the contract and the exclusive production license. Maruti Udyog, today India’s premier car manufacturing corporation, was founded by the Gandhi scion but the company did not produce any vehicles during his lifetime. A test model put out as a showpiece of progress was criticized. With blessings from the then prime minister, the company received land, tax breaks and funds. 330 acres of land was provided by substantial loans. A commission of inquiry headed by justice A C Gupta was set up in 1978 to probe the scandal. Justice Gupta observed: “It has been found that Maruti Technical Services was not competent to render technical knowhow in respect of motor cars.”

10.     Kuo Oil Scandal (1974):-

This scam again put the spotlight on the mother-son duo of Indria Gandhi and Sanjay Gandhi. Indian oil Corporation signed an Rs 2.2 crore oil contract with a non- existent firm in Hong Kong called Kuo Oil Company. Reports revealed that huge kickbacks were given by Kuo to Indian politicians for the deal. The Indian Oil corporation suffered major losses due to the fictitious deal. The then opposition accused that the money given to Kuo was re-routed to Indira and Sanjay.

11.     Cement Scam (1981):-

A R Antulay was chief minister of Maharashtra (9 June 1980 to 12 January 1982). He set up a trust Indira Gandhi Pratibha Pratishthan to encourage talent and artists. Corpus of Rs 5.2 crore of which Rs 2 crore came as grant from Maharashtra government Remaining money was collected as donations from builders and sugar co-operatives Government issued order asking sugar co-operatives were asked to donate for trust  Rs 2.5 for per tonne production of sugar. As there was cement allocation, builders were asked to donate per bag of cement allocation. Raheja had paid Rs 40 per bag for 700 tonnes of cement. Raheja paid Rs 5.6 lakh. Trust was shown as government trust, but it was not. It was private trust with Antulay as main trustee and his friends as other trustees. The trust deed was such that Antulay could take away all money personally if the trust were winded up. P.B.Samant, a builder and Socialist leader from Goregaon, and Ramdas Nayak, BJP corporator, went against him to Mumbai High Court. Someone told Ramnath Goenka, owner of Indian Express about this and asked him to write about it. Goenka called his blue eyed boy editor Arun Shourie to Mumbai and asked him to write. Indian Express and Loksatta exposed the scandal, worked hand in glove to gather information and provide it to Shourie. In January 1982 Justice B Lentin gave judgment against Antulay saying that there was nexus and quid pro-quo in donations and cement allocation, Fought a long battle to clear his name.

12. Westland Helicopter (1986):-

Even before Bofors could tarnish the image of former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi, it was the Westland helicopter scam that dragged his name through mud. He was accused of forcing the public sector company, Pawan Hans Corporation, to purchase 21 helicopters from a British company which was already in the process of shutting down operations. The helicopters were technically faulty and resulted in a few crashes. They were eventually discarded as junk and lined up at an unused airport in Mumbai.

13. Bofors Scandal (1987):-

The Bofors scandal was a major political scandal that occurred between India and Sweden during the 1980 and 1990, initiated by Indian National Congress (Congress party) politicians and implicating the Indian prime minister, Rajiv Gandhi, and several other members of the Indian and Swedish government who were accused of receiving kickbacks from Bofors AB, a bank principally financed by the Wallenberg family’s Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken, for winning a bid to supply India’s 155 mm field howitzer. The scandal relates to illegal kickbacks paid in a US$ 1.4 billion deal between the Swedish arms manufacturer Bofors with the government of India for the sale of 410 field howitzer guns, and a supply contract almost twice that amount. It was the biggest arms deal ever in Sweden, and money marked for development projects was diverted to secure this contract at any cost. The investigations revealed flouting of rules and bypassing of institutions.

On March 18, 1986, India sighed a Rs 1437 crore deal with Swedish arms manufacturer AB Bofors for the supply of 400 155 mm Howitzer guns for the Army. A year later, on April 16, 1987, a Swedish radio channel alleged that the company had bribed top Indian politicians and defense personnel to secure the contract. The scandal rocked the Rajiv Gandhi-led government in the late 1980. On January 22, 1990, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) lodged an FIR against the then president of Bofors Martin Ardho, the alleged middleman Win Chadda and the Hinduja brothers for criminal conspiracy, cheating and forgery. It was alleged that certain public servants and private persons in India and abroad had entered into a criminal conspiracy between 1982 and 1987 in pursuance of which the offences of bribery, corruption, cheating and forgery were committed. The first charge sheet in the case was filed on October 22, 1999, against Chadda, Ottavio Quattrocchi, the then defense secretary S K Bhatnagar, Ardbo and the Bofors Company. A supplementary charge sheet was filed against the Hinduja brothers on October 9, 2000.

Justice R S Sodhi (since retired) of the Delhi High Court on May 31, 2005, had quashed the CBI case in the Bofors pay-off scam. Before that, retired Justice J D Kapoor, had on February 4, 2004, exonerated late Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi in the case and directed the framing of charge of forgery under section 465 of the Indian Penal Code against Bofors Company. A special CBI court in Delhi on March 4, 2011, had discharged Quattrocchi from the case saying the country could not afford to spend hard-earned money on his extradition which had already cost Rs 250 crore. Quattrocchi, who had fled from here on July 29-30, 1933 never appeared before any court in India to face prosecution. He passed away on July 13, 2013. The other accused persons who died were Bhatnagar, Chadda and Ardbo.

14. H D W Submarine Deal Scandal (1987):-

It was alleged that the German firm HDW paid hefty kickbacks to some Indian middleman and politician for finalizing a purchase of two submarines from it. The deal was signed by the Rajiv Gandhi government in 1987. During the course of investigation it was found that kickbacks were routed through Swiss Banks including the Bank of Credit Swisse in Geneva. A case was registered regarding the scam by the VP Singh government in March 1990. In 2005, the case was finally closed, in HDW’s favor.

15. ST Kitts Forgery (1989):-

The St. Kitts case (St. Kitts is a small island in the Caribbean) had its origin in 1989, during the run-up to the general elections to be held later that year. V.P. Singh, who had quit as Finance Minister in the Rajiv Gandhi Cabinet following the Bofors expose and had emerged as the force that rallied the Opposition parties, was Rajiv’s main challenger.

From November 1988 to October 1989, Narasimha Rao was the External Affairs Minister in the Rajiv Gandhi government, and K.K. Tewary was his Minister of State. Chandraswami was Narasimha Rao’s spiritual guru and also an associate, as he had been to several other political leaders. K.N. Aggarwal alias Mamaji was Chandraswami’s private secretary. All the four, along with a few other key person, were accused of forging documents against Ajeya Singh, son of V.P Singh, to show that he had opened a bank account in First Trust Corporation Bank in St. Kitts and deposited $21 million in it, making V.P. Singh its beneficiary.

The story first hit the headlines in the Indian media, following a report in the Kuwait-based Arab Times newspaper, in August 1989. The Rajiv Gandhi government asked the Enforcement Directorate (E.D) to probe the matter. In October 1989, the E.D.’s Deputy Director, A.P. Nandy, visited St. Kitts and later presented a report to Parliament. It was only after V.P. Singh became Prime Minister in December 1989 that the CBI registered criminal cases against Enforcement Director K.L. Verma, Chandraswami, K.N. Aggarwal, arms dealer and Chandraswami’s associate Adnan Kashoggi’s son-in-law Larry J. Kolb, and First Trust Corporation’s managaing director George McLean.

According to the case, it was Kolb who managed to insert the news item in Arab Times on August 20, 1989, which was reproduced by sections of the Indian media. Kolb, with Chandraswami, also arranged the visit of Nandy to St. Kitts in a private plane.

In St. Kitts, Nandy obtained letters and documents showing the details of the bank account allegedly opened by Ajeya Singh, from McLean. Nandy then got these documents, which allegedly carried the signatures of Ajeya Singh and V.P Singh, attested by R.K. Rai, then Consul-General of India in the United States, and Deepak Sen Gupta, Deputy Consul-General in the U.S., the CBI said.

Both Ajeya Singh and V.P. Singh soon denied any connection with the account. The CBI sent these documents to the handwriting experts at the Central Forensic Science Laboratory, New Delhi, and on the basis of their report, concluded that the signatures of Ajeya Singh and V.P. Singh in the documents were forged, on the model of their signatures found in their passport applications, which Tewary managed to secure through official influence. Narasimha Rao's role was allegedly confined to asking R.K. Rai to attest the forged documents.

The case, first registered by the CBI in May 1990, dragged on until the People's Union for Civil Liberties moved the Supreme Court in February 1996 seeking disclosure of the CBI's findings. It was only after Narasimha Rao demitted office that the CBI, under directions from the Supreme Court, pressed for Narasimha Rao's prosecution in the case and charge-sheeted him along with the others in September 1996.

The trial court discharged Narasimha Rao and Tewary in June 1997, as the CBI failed to substantiate its charges. Nandy and McLean died before the filing of the charge-sheet. The CBI did not seek the arrest of Tewary and Kolb, and they were not summoned for trial before the court. "Mamaji" died on August 31, 2004 and the only accused left in the case was Chandraswami.

In the Special Court's judgment, the evidence against Chandraswami is contained in the statement of Suresh Chander Gupta, the then Second Secretary in the High Commission at Trinidad and Tobago in October 1989. Gupta had gone to St. Kitts, under instructions from the Additional Secretary, Ministry of External Affairs, to obtain a letter from the Government of St. Kitts relating to the investigation into the case. Gupta met the Prime Minister of St. Kitts, who asked him who Chandraswami was and what post he held with the Government of India. The trial court has held that the question posed by the Prime Minister of St. Kitts "may or may not have been related to this transaction. He may have heard of Chandraswami in any context, and may have raised the question when he met Gupta". The Judge thus gave the benefit of the doubt to Chandraswami.

The Special Court had also before it the evidence of Arif Mohammed Khan, former Union Minister and an associate of V.P. Singh, who stated that Chandraswami had shown him a paper carrying the details of the bank account in St. Kitts allegedly opened by Ajeya Singh, to be conveyed to V.P. Singh. When Khan conveyed this to V.P. Singh, he did not pay much heed to the same and refused to meet Chandraswami, the judgment says.

Is this a sufficient reason to reject this piece of evidence? V.P. Singh might have refused to meet Chandraswami to discuss it as he perhaps believed that the godman was trying to blackmail him with a concocted story. V.P. Singh has described Chandraswami's acquittal as "unfortunate".

The court held, citing a Supreme Court judgment in another case, that if the prosecution relies upon circumstantial evidence, a clear link has to be established and the chain has to be completed, and allegations of conspiracy cannot be accepted on the basis of incomplete evidence.

The court thus pointed out that in the absence of the evidence of Nandy, who died, it cannot be said that Chandraswami provided any assistance to Nandy in going to St. Kitts from Miami in the U.S. or even that Chandraswami had met Nandy in Miami, as alleged by the CBI.

The acquittal of all the accused cannot but keep the mystery of the case alive. N.K. Singh, former Joint Director of the CBI, who handled the case until 1991 when he was shifted to the Border Security Force, has asked why the CBI did not pursue the case against K.L. Verma after the High Court discharged him from the case for lack of a sanction order.

Contrary to what the judgment says, N.K. Singh has claimed that Nandy had confessed in the court and was to be made approver before he died. Nandy, it appears, had confessed that he had met Congress leader R.K. Dhawan at the instance of his director K.L. Verma, before proceeding to St. Kitts.

N.K. Singh has also revealed that Shiv Kumar, the then High Commissioner at Port of Spain (Trinidad and Tobago), who deputed Suresh Gupta to meet the Prime Minister of St. Kitts, had made serious allegations in writing to the Cabinet Secretary about the intimidation and coercion used by Kolb and Mamaji.

It remains to be seen whether the CBI will appeal against this judgment in view of the inconsistencies in it.

16. Airbus Scandal (1990):-

Indian Airlines (IA) chose Airbus over Boeing for aircraft purchases despite high prices. It was alleged that the deal was given shape during Congress regime in 1984 and kickbacks were paid. The planes acquired via the deal were grounded. The CBI filed an FIR charging senior officials of civil aviation ministry and IA with corruption in hasty negotiations for purchases amounting to Rs 2,500 crore. The case is not yet solved.

17. Telgi Scam (1991):-

Abdul Karim Telgi (1961-2017) was a convicted Indian counterfeiter. He earned money by printing counterfeit stamp paper in India.

Telgi’s mother was Shariefabee Ladsaab Telgi, and his father was an employee of Indian Railways. His father died while he was young. Telgi paid for his own education at Sarvoday Vidyalaya Khanapur, an English medium school, by selling fruit and vegetables on trains. Eventually, he moved to Saudi Arabia. Seven years later, he returned to India, at which time he began a career in counterfeiting, originally focusing on fake passports.

Telgi moved to more complex counterfeiting when he began to counterfeit stamp paper. He appointed 350 people as agents who sold the fakes to bulk purchasers, including banks, insurance companies, and stock brokerage firms. The size of the scam was estimated to be more than Rs 200 billion (US$3.1 billion). One aspect of the scandal that caused much concern was that it required the involvement of many police officers and other government employees including Nikhil Khotari. For example, one Assistant Police Investigator was found to have a net worth of over Rs 1 billion (US$ 15 million), despite making a salary of only Rs 9000 (US$ 140) per month.

On 17 January 2006, Telgi and several associates were sentenced to 30 years rigorous imprisonment. On 28 June 2007, Telgi was sentenced to rigorous imprisonment for 13 years for another aspect of the scandal. He was also fined Rs. 10 billion (US$ 150 million). The Income Tax Department requested that Telgi’s property be confiscated to pay the fine. He had been in jail for 13 years.

Telgi was suffering from meningitis and died on 23 October 2017 at a Victoria Hospital, Bengaluru. He was suffering from diabetes and hypertension for over 20 years, besides other ailments, including AIDS.

18. Jain Hawala (1991):-

The Rs 80 crore scam was a great leveler for the simple reason that politicians across party lines and of different ideologies were accused in the scam. Although unearthed in 1991, it was much discussed during 1996 as the name of some top politicians of the country started cropping up during the course of investigation. The scam revolved around the payments politicians received from Hawala brokers and the Jain brothers who allegedly funded drugs and terrorism around the globe. Many prominent politicians such as LK Advani, Arjun Singh, Yashwant Sinha, Kalpnath Roy, VC Shukla, Madhavrao Scindia, Sharad Yadav, Buta Singh, Natwar Singh and Madan Lal Khurana were indicated. The case against them collapsed due to lake of evidence. The court ruled that Hawala records (including diaries) are inadequate as the main evidence.

19. “Big Bull” Harshad MEHTA Scandal (1992):-

The “Big Bull” scam will always have a special place in the list of financial frauds in India. Overnight stock market crashed and many investors were left penniless. Several Indian stockbrokers were accused of siphoning off over Rs 3500 crore, mostly from inter-bank transactions, to fuel a rise in the Mumbai stock market in 1992. It involved top officers of state-run and foreign bank and financial institutions, bureaucrats and politician. When news of the scam broke, the stock market crashed.

The year 1992 will go down in the history of India as the year of the stock market scam. Harshad Mehta, a broker known for his rags-to-riches story and a poster boy for many investors, had used receipts of public sector banks to manipulate stock prices.

Mehta siphoned off around Rs 1,000 crore from the banking system to buy stocks on the Bombay Stock Exchange. As he pumped in money, the markets continued to achieve new highs. Retail investors took cues from what Mehta was buying and followed in the footsteps of the ‘Big Bull’. 

In the period between April 1991 and April 1992, the Sensex went into frenzy and returned 274 percent, moving from 1,194 points to 4,467. That is the highest annual return for the index. 

The scam came to light when the State Bank of India reported a shortfall in government securities. That led to an investigation that later showed that Mehta had manipulated around Rs 3,500 crore in the system. On August 6, 1992, after the scam was exposed, the markets crashed by 72 percent leading to one of the biggest fall and a bearish phase that lasted for two years. 

Mehta was jailed in 1992. In 1995, he again caused a furore when he claimed that he made a donation of Rs 1 crore to PV Narasimha Rao, the then prime minister, and the ruling Congress to set him free. He died in jail on December 31, 2001, after a cardiac arrest. 

20. Indian Bank Scandal (1992):-

Indian Bank lost more than Rs 1300 crore because of loans doled out by its then chairman Gopalakrishnan to people with dubious backgrounds. Most of the borrowers never paid back.

21. JMM Bribe (1993):-

The episode shamed Parliament as it revealed that even the votes of MPs are up for sale provided someone willing to pay the hefty price they demand. In 1993, the then Narasimha Rao government was surviving on a thin majority and was going through a severe crisis. The Opposition had moved a non-confidence motion against the government and all permutations and combinations seemed shaky, indicating the likely fall of the government. However on the day of voting, 10 MP’s of the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) and of a breakaway faction of the Janata Dal voted in favor of the government. The government was saved but public faith in parliamentarians got a severe beating as it was later found that JMM MPs had received bribes to do so.

22. Sugar Import Scam (1994):-

The genesis of sugar scandal can be traced to the end of September 1993 when sugar stocks were several lakh tonnes lower than they had been in the same month the previous year. The sugar position at September end has traditionally been the amber light which alerts government to the need to decide whether imports will or will not be required. The Cabinet Committee on prices met within a fortnight of the end of September, eleven days to be precise, on 11 October 1993 and decided that Kalpnath Rai, the Union food minister should examine whether “marginal imports” might not be required.

On 9 March 1994 the Cabinet Committee on Price decided to put sugar imports on Open General licensee so that private traders could import the “marginal quantities” require to offset the marginal increase in open market prices than anticipated. Two months later, the open market price of sugar shot up from Rs. 15 to Rs. 17 per kilo. There were two proximate causes for this; for one Kalpnath was not responsible. It was the failure of the State Trading Corporation (STC) to effect imports in time. The other cause for which Kalpnath must bear the sole responsibility is that he cut down the sugar release into the free sale market in May 1994 by 2.25 lakh tonnes. This represented about 0.25 percent of India’s annual consumption of sugar.

Gyan Prakash Committee was set up by the prime minister to investigate the sugar scandal on 17 July 1994. The Gyan Prakash report held Kalpnath entirely responsible as he curtailed sugar in the free market so that the shortage becomes more acute. Worse, says the report, the poor who relied on public distribution system (PDS) through ration shops was also affected because traders raised the price of sugar in open market and the Food Ministry reduced the supplies of sugar to the PDS as well as the open market. Thus, the report says had the effect of favoring sugar mills. The policy of granting licenses to set up new sugar mills to augment production was followed in such a skewed way that it helped only a few. The report raps the cabinet secretary and A.K. Antony, a person of high integrity, Union Minister Civil Supplies for lack of coordination. Antony resigned in protest against Gyan Prakash report which commented against him. Kalpnath did not resign and continued in office till the C.B.I. arrested him under TADA for his links with terrorist Dawood Ibrahim and his group. There were wild rumours that Kalpnath shared the profits of sugar scandal running into lakhs with the prime minister but it will never be known.

23. Bhangali Scam (1995):-

Chain Roop Bhansali Shortly Known as C.R Bhansali scam occurred in 1995. The C.R Bhansali scam was of Rs. 1200 Crore, Which is the huge amount of the time of 1995.

C.R Bhansali collecting all money through his mutual fund company and transferring al amount to Non-Existing Company.

Bhansali had floated 133 companies to pull in funds and suck them out.

In three years, between March 93 and 96, the net worth of CRB Capital Markets plunged from Rs 11.65 crore to Rs 436.6 crore, or over 37 times. Alarm bells should have gone off about manipulation, especially as SEBI, which had given in an inspection report on the group’s merchant banking division and asset Management Company, came up with serious breaches.

24. Purulia arms drop case (1995):-

The Purulia arms drop case refers to an incident that occurred on 17 December 1995 in which unauthorized arms were dropped from an Antonov An-26 aircraft in Purulia district in West Bengal. The arms dropped included a very large consignment of AK47 rifles and around a million round of ammunition scattered over four villages in the district. It is considered to be one of the biggest security breaches in Indian History.

The aircraft reappeared in the Indian airspace within days, it was forced to land and its crew comprising five Latvian citizens and a British mercenary, Peter Bleach, was arrested and sentenced to life imprisonment. But the chief accused, a Danish citizen named Niels Hock aka Kim Davy escaped arrest and was able to ship himself out of India. The investigation into the incident conducted by BBC pointed the finger towards ’Anand Marga’ a spiritual organization operating in India since 1955, as the intended target of the weapons. This claim was validated later by the court, citing the Pilot’s testimony and photos of Anand Marga headquarters found in the aircraft as credible evidences. Anand Marga, was since the 1980s, in a continuous confrontation with the ruling CPI (M) and its cadres in West Bengal. The organization had also been facing staunch opposition from the natives and was labeled as ‘child kidnappers’ with numerous instances of violent confrontation between the two groups. The investigation reports claimed that the arms were dropped so that the organization can defend themselves against continuous threats and attacks. And Kim Davy himself a member of the Anand Marga brokered the ‘transaction’.

All the arrested crew members were released by the government after persistent pressure from Russia and Britain. The Latvian crews were released in 2000 while Bleach found his way out in 2004. Meanwhile Davy was arrested by Danish authorities in 2007 and on April 9, 2010 Danish government decided to extradite Kim Davy to Indian but Danish authorities failed to successfully defend their decision in the Danish high court. The court, therefore, refused extradition of Kim Davy to India. Further, Danish authorities decided not to appeal the high court judgment to the Supreme Court. Kim Davy later came up with a stunning  revelation that both the Central Government(under the Congress) and RAW(India’s spy agency) had prior knowledge about the arms drop and the weapons were dropped to help the Anti-Left forces in Bengal and thereby creating a  pretext to impose President’s rule in West Bengal. He also revealed that prominent politician from Bihar, Pappu Yadav, had masterminded his escape from India. Later Peter Bleach aligned with the ‘Davy story line’. But the CBI has completely ruled out any conspiracy involving the Central government in the arms drop and considers these revelations by the accused as attempts to block their extradition which has continuously been rejected by the Danish high court.

Amidst new revelations and release of a documentary on the matter the CBI has now decided to launch a fresh attempt to bring Davy to India with Davy himself stating to a news channel that he’d be willing to stand trial anywhere in the world if his safety is guaranteed.

24. Yugoslav Dinar Scam (1995):-

The Enforcement Directorate in Bombay recently busted a 560 billion Yugoslav dinar racket and arrested five persons involved. Information given by some Vysya and UCO Bank officials revealed that 560 billion dinars- worth Rs 400 crore-had come in through the Hawala channel and efforts were being made to transfer the amount to a bank account in the Bahamas. The amount was acquired by Yogesh Mehta and Dinesh Singh by way of compensatory payments against the import of electronic goods.

A third person, Rohit Mody, who was trying to deposit the money in a Bahamas bank, said he had received some of the money in Singapore and Los Angeles. Another accused, Satish Barot, confessed he wished to open a restaurant in the Bahamas with his share of the profit.

IT was Food Minister S.K.Katare who- much to the great embarrassment of Chief Minister Digvijay Singh- took the lid off what is being referred to as the rice scam. According to officials in Bhopal, the fraud was detected at the food controller’s office in Raipur, which is considered to be the state’s rice bowl.

25. In A Pickle Scam (1996):-

Pickle baron Lakhubhai Pathak raised a stink when he accused former Prime Minister P.V.Narasimha Rao and godman Chandraswami of accepting a bribe of Rs 10 lakh from him for securing a paper pulp contract.

26. Fodder Scam(Chara Ghotala)(1996):-

First emerged in 1985, fodder scam is 22-year-old case of fraudulent transaction up to the tune of Rs 950 crores. The scam or irregularity was first sniffed by CAG TN Chaturvedi in the year 1985 who noticed that Bihar government kept delaying the monthly filing of the account status.

The case resurfaced again in 1996. On 27 January, CBI carried out raids on offices of Animal Husbandry department in Chaibasa. The scam took its notorious name ‘Chara Ghotala’ (Fodder Scam) as it emerged that large-scale funds were embezzled in the name of transactions made to non-existent companies- for purchase and supply of cattle fodder in Bihar in the 1990s.

Later, CBI formally requested the then Governor of Bihar for permission to prosecute the CM. The central investigation agency filed charge sheets against Lalu Yadav and 55 other co-accused in 1997. As per an Indian Express report, the accused had 63 cases registered against them under three sections: IPC Sections 420 (forgery) and 120 (b) (criminal conspiracy) and Section 13 (b) of the Prevention of Corruption Act.

As the case got media attention, Lalu came under immense opposition and public pressure to resign. In 1997, Lalu Yadav resigned from the post of chief minister as his then party, Janta Dal, pressured him to leave office while being under criminal prosecution. Lalu left Janata Dal and formed his own party Rashtriya Janata Dal. He soon installed his wife Rabri Devi, as chief minister of Bihar who won vote of confidence in July 1997.

In October 2013, Lalu Prasad Yadav was sentenced to five years in prison in the case. The verdict unseated Lalu as an MP. Also, the ruling barred him from participating in elections for the next 11 years.

The case was subjudice for the past 22 years. In May 2017, Supreme Court ruled Yadav has to face separate trials in each of the cases and if found guilty may be punished separately. On December 23, the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) chief along with 14 other was found guilty by the court while seven accused including former Bihar Chief Minister Jagannath Mishra were acquitted.

27. Urea Scam (1996):-

At a time when sons of political fathers are on the rise, this was an ignominious fall. Last week, P.V. Prabhakar Rao, the youngest son of former Prime Minister P.V. Narasimha Rao, was finally arrested by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in a surprise raid at his Mehboobnagar hideout near Hyderabad.

For almost three years, the ED had been chasing Prabhakar for his alleged involvement in the Rs 133 crore urea scam. But he evaded arrest despite the ED getting non-bailable warrants issued against him.

It was a comic situation: investigating agencies "struggled" to trace him though Prabhakar was provided Special Protection Group (SPG) cover. The SPG argued that its job was to protect the VVIP and disclosing his whereabouts would be a violation of the Blue Book.

This charade would have continued had a Special Court in Delhi not rapped the CBI on November 17 for failing to prosecute him.

In September, the CBI had filed charge-sheets against nine persons: C.K. Ramakrishnan, CMD of National Fertilisers Limited (NFL), D.S. Kanwar, NFL's executive director, M. Sambashiva Rao, Indian agent of the Turkish company Karsan, B. Sanjeeva Rao, nephew of Narasimha Rao, Prakash Yadav, son of former fertilisers minister Ram Lakhan Singh Yadav, businessman Mallesham Gaud and three Karsan officials. Curiously, the CBI had found nothing against Prabhakar.

It was only when an incensed court directed the CBI to file a status report that the ED traced Prabhakar. He was sent to 14-day judicial custody by the magistrate.

The scam originated in September 1995 when NFL floated a global tender for the supply of 2 lakh tonnes of urea. In March 1996, the NFL under Ramakrishnan, who was appointed CMD by the Rao government bypassing established procedures, advanced the entire amount of Rs 133 crore to Karsan without any bank guarantee.

It is still a mystery as to how the RBI/SBI waived stiff conditions attached to such deals. In fact, the Swiss bank which received an invoice for making payment to Karsan raised certain objections and sent it back. But there was no response either from NFL or the RBI and the SBI.

The company took the money but did not deliver the goods. When the matter was referred to the CBI in May 1996, it did not even touch Prabhakar though he had been identified as the "hidden hand" in the deal.

Despite several leads and testimonies of prosecution witnesses, the CBI says there was no evidence against Prabhakar. ED officials, however, say that vital evidence may have been lost due to the inordinate delay in arresting him.

The investigating agencies now have the arduous task of bringing the money back from Switzerland. Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee raised the subject of remitting the frozen $7 million back to India with the visiting Swiss President recently and got a positive reply.

But a major part of the Rs 133 crore is untraceable as it was transferred to Turkey by Karsan executives. Though they are being prosecuted in India, it is doubtful that the entire amount will ever be recovered.

 

28. KeralaSex Scandals: Stolen girls of God’s Own Country:-

The state of Kerala, India, often cited as a model of development, has in the past two decades seen a multitude of sex scandals where minor girls have been subject to sexual abuse and exploitation.

You got to be kidding. It can’t be God’s own country. God left this carpet of greenery long ago. Money, muscle power and misogyny have taken over the political will of this most politicised state. Big names, small towns and minor girls are inextricably embroiled in the numerous sex scandals that keep unfolding across the state one after another.

Lured, kidnapped, drugged and threatened, minors were ferried across the state. While bastions of power including political, dodged accusations, children died giving birth to children. Teenage brother killed his teenage sister to uphold honor. Girls who lost home, family and friends became refugees in their own home state.

Many of these cases got the attention of the public because of the victims themselves who sought help. Activists, however, warn that only few cases get reported. Even the reported ones would subsequently get diminished in the firing lines between political parties that take mileage from such cases.

The first such glaring incident came to light in 1996 when a teenager was blackmailed into eloping with a bus conductor in Suryanelli.

Suryanelli (1996): Unarguably the first case that brought shame to the most literate state in the country. In Suryanelli, a small settlement in the high ranges of Idukki district, a 14-year-old was blackmailed by a local bus conductor. She had been in love with him and he had threatened to expose her graphic pictures if she didn’t go with him.

What followed was gruesome sexual assault in captivity for 40 days by several men. Constant sexual abuse made the girl fall grievously ill. The predators abandoned her giving her a death threat if any words about them were spoken. The class 9 student went to the police and named 43 persons, including Congress MP, P.J. Kurien . 39 people figured in the accused list.

In 2005, eleven years after the incident, in one of the most shocking judgments in Kerala’ s judicial history, the High Court acquitted 35, convicting only 4. The court even raised questions about the character of the 14 year old.

Meanwhile, in a bizarre twist, the girl who now works as a peon in a Government office was arrested two weeks ago, accusing her of financial fraud. She was subsequently suspended from job. Activists fear that the fraud charges could be part of a conspiracy to ensure that she doesn’t get justice in the Supreme Court.

Vithura (1996): A 16-year-old in Vithura, a scenic village surrounded by Western Ghats in south Kerala, followed Suryanelli’s fate. The girl was lured into getting roles in films by her neighbour and was taken in and out of Kerala for a year.

The girl named 100 people and subsequently identified 18, including a popular film star (Jagathy Sreekumar, who was later acquitted), a former police deputy, and a senior public servant.

Last year, the victim who is 29 years old now, sought a stay in trial proceedings. In the petition, she stated that she had to undergo acute mental trauma and misery at the hands of the accused and the public.

“The maximum punishment in a sexual abuse case is 14 years of imprisonment and what I experienced in the past 15 years is worse than the imprisonment. I have lost all hopes of justice. Leave me alone.” These were her words.

Kozhikode Ice-cream Parlour (1997):  One of the biggest and most controversial cases of sexual exploitation, money power and rotten politics in Kerala. This sensational case is still the focus of media primarily because of the involvement of P.K Kunhalikutty,Kerala’s Industries Minister and leader of Indian Union Muslim League (IUML), popularly known as Muslim League.

Five minor girls approached Anweshi, a women’s group in Kozhikode led by K. Ajitha. Big names like P.K Kunhalikutty, CPM leader T.P Dasan, top custom officials etc. figured in their petition.

Anweshi team conducted an investigation and reported to the police and media that an ice-cream parlour in the city was used as a front to trap young women and minor girls by offering them ice-cream laced with sedative in order to sexually exploit and blackmail them. The activists complained that the dead bodies of two teenage girls found on the railway tracks in the city had strong connection with the case and they feared that many girls could have been trapped.

Out of five victims, two retracted their statements later. In 2005, the Kerala high court dismissed the petition that sought Kunhalikutty’s prosecution. In 2006, the Supreme Court dismissed the case citing lack of evidence.

After 14 years, in 2011, the case started hitting headlines in Kerala again. A close relative who was an aid to the minister during the scandal, accused in a press meet that the minister had bribed the victims and the three judges in the high court to obtain favorable verdicts.

Following the relative’s allegation, the Government ordered a fresh probe and the report submitted by the Special Investigation Team is expected to be released soon.

In January, 2011, former Director-General of Prosecutions (DGP) Kallada Sukumaran alleged that in 1997, the CPM led Nayanar ministry had intervened in the ice-cream parlour case to ‘exclude’ IUML leader P K Kunhalikutty.

IUML deny all allegations and Kunhalikutty is holding the portfolio of Industries and IT in the present Congress led UDF Government.

Kothamangalam (1997):  A 15-year-old filed a police complaint stating that over 100 people sexually abused her for a year. The police identified 43 of the accused and some arrests were made. This case hardly caught any media attention until recently when it was raked up by the controversial minister P.K Kunjalikutty’s close relative.

In a press meet, the relative stated that the minister had bribed the victim in order to buy her silence. The girl had been admitted to a prayer centre in Kerala after her physical and mental conditions worsened. The relative alleged that the minister had sent his man to the prayer centre. The case lists 138 people as accused but has been in the cold storage for a long time.

Panthalam (1997):  An academically bright student, who was expecting rank in her final year degree exam, was raped by a group of 8 for over three months. She named four of them as being lecturers from her college. They also shot her video and used it to black mail her. As the young woman saw no end to this ongoing exploitation, she approached the police with the help of her parents. In 2002, the special court passed a judgment punishing seven of them. One accused had committed suicide during the trial. Despite strong pretest from activists, the NSS college management reinstated the lectures.

Thoppumpady (2002): Also known as the Mattancherry case, a 16-year-old maid servant was lured by an auto driver and was kept in captivity and raped by many. She was also forced to act in porn films. The girl named 69 people including a film director and a priest. The judge had come down heavily on the investigating officers as the victim complained that the police was trying to change her actual date of birth in a bid to weaken the case. This case too is languishing.

Kiliroor (2004): The case came to light when the girl’s father had lodged a complaint with the police that his daughter was promised roles in TV serials and was subsequently exploited by several people. When the complaint was filed, the 18-year-old old was in a government hospital having delivered a child. Three months, later, the girl was dead. The doctors said that it was kidney failure. The police concluded that she died of post-delivery complications.

The activists cried foul.

In an astonishing twist, CPM leader V.S. Achuthanandan, gave a statement to the effect that he found it odd how the young mother’s condition worsened soon after the visit made to the hospital by some VIPS. Some senior CPM leaders had visited the girl in the hospital. Activists alleged that a powerful section in CPM was desperate to sabotage the case.

The CPM leader later played down the controversy saying he was only repeating what the doctor, who was treating the girl had stated. The CBI investigation team could not collect any evidence that would corroborate the allegation.

Last month, the special court, sentenced the five accused to 10 years of imprisonment. Activists and the girl’s family protest that the big fish in this case too have escaped without a scratch.

Kaviyoor (2004): The case got media attention as four members of the family including the 15-year-old victim, her parents and her younger siblings found dead in 2004 in what appeared to be a suicide pact. The father was a priest in a local temple.

The girl, who was a talented classical dancer, was alleged to have been sexually exploited by several people after being promised roles in TV serials. While the CBI who re-investigated the case got to a conclusion of incest with the father as the accused, activists have alleged that Kaviyoor and Kiliroor cases are connected and have made several requests to the authorities that this case should be investigated by the same team.

According to P.Geetha, an activist who has worked extensively on many of these cases, since both the victims (Kiliroor and Kaviyoor) are dead, there is very little chance of truth coming out.

Kottiyam (2004): One of the rarest cases in Kerala that made headlines with an alleged honor killing. A 15-year-old was picked up by the police at a sleepy junction in southern Kerala. As in most cases involving minors, the school going girl too was lured by a neighbour who promised to make her an actress.

A year later, in 2005, she was killed by her 17-year-old brother in what appeared to be an honor killing. In a video interview given to three women activists before death, she said that she was first taken to the Pangode Military Camp, near Trivandrum. She was 14 then. Days before her death she had approached the police stating she feared for her life. This case too has been in the cold storage for a while.

Poovarani (2007): This case came to light when a 14-year-old died in a hospital near Poovarani. As per the postmortem record, she died of AIDS. Further investigation revealed that the minor, hailing from a poor family, was forced into prostitution at the age of 12 by her aunt. The girl’s family is untraceable now and the case has not made any progress.

Kothamangalam (2011):  The incident came to light when a 14-year-old was taken by her father for abortion to a local hospital. The class 10 student was 6 months pregnant then. The girl informed the police that it was her father who gave her away to his friends for petty cash for over a period of one year.  32 people have been arrested so far and some are out on bail. The victim gave birth to a child last year, in October.

Paravur (2011): The sexual abuse of the 14-year-old school going girl came to light after her aunt complained to the police that the girl’s father had forcibly taken the minor into prostitution. The girl informed the police that she was first raped by her father who took her in and out of Kerala for over two years. The minor also told the police that her father used to threaten to kill her younger brother if she refused his bidding.

The class 10 student, unable to bear constant sexual abuse by many, ran away and took shelter at her aunt’s place. As the father started threatening the aunt, she took the minor to the police.  A total of 150 people including, a trade union leader, a local politician, a retired naval officer, and a PWD contractor figure in the accused list.

Last year, the Kerala high court directed that the authorities should complete the trial proceedings by end of May, 2012, so that the girl can resume her studies.

The Paradox of Kerala

These tales of abuse and money power reveal a disturbing truth. How minors are trapped, raped and then pushed in to sex work. It also exposes the paradox of the state of Kerala. On one hand there statistics that garner praise – high literacy, high education, high female sex ratio, high life expectancy, better health care, better living condition and on the other hand, the questionable quality of life of a woman in Kerala subject to a misogynistic society, where women and children are not safe even in their own homes.

Today, dowry is the most common practice cutting across class, caste and religious divide. Daughters are often seen as financial and moral liability. Suicide rates in the state are one of the highest in India. Sex is a taboo and to complicate it further moral policingis gaining acceptance in the society. Women’s participation in politics is very low (2011 Kerala assembly has only 7 women compared to 133 male legislators). The land that figures in the list of 50 must see places in a life time by National Geographic Traveler are one of the most unsafe places for women to travel. The list goes on.

It is time we admit 100% literacy and high education do not change the mindset. What we need is a greater political will and commitment to ensure that “God’s Own Country” doesn’t become a living hell for its women and children.

29. Sheregar Scam (1997):-

An employee with best, Mumbai Ashok Sheregar became an overnight celebrity in the city after he launched a “double your money in a month” scheme. His target was primarily the poor and the middle- class class. To gain the confidence of investors, he initially doubled some people’s money. After collecting a substantial amount from gullible investors, Sheregar went missing only to be caught after a few years.

30. Cobbler Scam (1997):-

 The Cobbler Scam is one of the biggest multi million dollars scam in Indian History, is nicknamed The Great Cobbler Scam. What really happened in this Great Cobbler Scam was that various businessman & politicians had siphoned around $600 million US dollars from a scheme that was floated by the Government of India meant to benefit the poor cobblers of Mumbai. Instead, it went into the pockets of the elites who used this money to built luxury homes for themselves and also brought luxury cars, boats, arts, etc. The money of the scheme was meant to provide low interest loans and tax concessions to the Mumbai’s poorest – cobblers who work 16-hours a day for less than $2. Not a single penny reached these cobblers.

The modus operandi of the mastermind was to float a cooperative society of cobblers to avail of soft government loans through various schemes. Several bogus societies of cobblers were formed only for the purpose of availing these soft government loans. The main heads Daya of Dawood Shoes, Rafique Tejani of Metro Shoes and Kishore Signapurkar of Milano Shoes created fictitious cooperative societies for cobblers. On behalf of these non-existing cooperative societies they availed loans of crores of rupees from different banks. The accused created a fictitious cooperative society of cobblers to take advantage of government loans through various schemes. The banks involved in giving loans were also charge sheeted.

The primary accused in the multi-crore shoe scam is Sohin Daya, son of former Sheriff of Mumbai. The people involved in this racket were Saddrudin Daya, former sheriff of Mumbai and owner of Dawood Shoes, Rafique Tejani, owner of Metro Shoes, Kishore Signapurkar, proprietor of Milano Shoes, and Abu Asim Azmi, president of Samajwadi Party’s Mumbai unit and partner in Citywalk Shoes. Beside them various officials of banks and financial institutions were also involved in this multi million dollars scam.

The Banks whose officials were involved in this scam are: Maharashtra State Finance Corporation, Citibank, Bank of Oman, Dena Bank, Development Credit Bank, Saraswat Co-operative Bank, and Bank of Bahrain and Kuwait.

This scam cost the Government of India around $600 million US dollars. This was one of the worst scam in India that cheated the poorest people of the society and benefited a lot of rich and elite people. This is one of the reasons why poverty in India is difficult to eliminate. The scam was exposed in 1995.

31. JALGAON HOUSING (1997):-

Following the cobbler scam was the Jalgaon Housing scam in the same year. The state government floated a tender for the construction of 11,000 low-cost houses in Jalgaon. The tender’s conditions were altered to award the contract to Khandesh Builders, a front company of Shiv Sena MLA Sureshdada Jain. Jain was later arrested for his alleged role in the scam.

32. PETROL PUMP Scam (1998):-

It was the National Democratic Alliance’s (NDA) first year in power and it was the first scam to hit the alliance. The investigation revealed how the regime favoured BJP and RSS functionaries and some governors and bureaucrats in petrol pump, LPG and kerosene agencies allotment. In 2005, the Supreme Court ruled that out of 409 allotments so made, 296 allotments should be cancelled.

33. Tree Plantation Scam (1998):-

Taking advantage of the existing loopholes in financial policies, a few plantation companies projected themselves as a part of Initial Public Offering (IPO) and assured massive returns to the investors. These companies created such hype that they gained an investment of Rs 8,000 crore from the market.

34. JBT Scam (1999-2000):-

Known as Junior Basic Teacher scam, it blew the lid off on the manner in which teachers were recruited in the Om Prakash Chautala regime in Haryana. The scam involved the appointment of 3,206 junior basic teachers in the state during 1999-2000. In its probe the CBI established how the father-son duo of Om Prakash Chautala and Ajay Chautala changed the authentic list of selected candidates with their own nominees.

35. Coffin Scam (1999):-

After the Kargil war that took place in 1999 between India and Pakistan in the Kargil sector of India, there were allegations of corruption in the purchase of coffins by the then BJP-led Government Of India. The government had incurred a heavy loss of 1, 87,000 dollars in the entire transaction. Comptroller and Auditor General of India's report had found several frauds in the transaction of coffins. The caskets were purchased from Buitron and Baiza, a company based in United States of America rendering funeral services. The then ruling government National Democratic Alliance had purchased 500 caskets worth $2500 each which was presumed to be thirteen times the original amount. However, the ambassador from both the countries India and United States of America had declared in writing that those caskets had a cost worth 2,768 dollars each.

The CBI investigated the case and filed a charge sheet against three Indian Army officers in August 2009. In December 2013, a special CBI court found no evidence and hence discharged all the accused.

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) registered a case in June 2006 registered a case under sections 420 (cheating), 120 B (criminal conspiracy) and the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988. The CBI filed a charge sheet in August 2009. Three major Indian Army officers and a company based in the United States were named in the charge sheet. The three Army officers named were Major General Arun Roye, Colonel SK Malik and Colonel FB Singh. Victor Baiza, a US National who supplied the aluminums casket and body bags to the Indian Army was also named in the charge sheet. However, the then defense minister George Fernandes was not included in the report and was later given a clean chit from the scam.

In December 2013, a special CBI court found no evidence and hence discharged all the accused.

36. Match fixing Scam (2000):-

In 2000, the Delhi police intercepted a conversation between a blacklisted bookie and the South African cricket captain Hansie Cronje in which they learnt that Cronje accepted money to throw matches. The South African government refused to allow any of its players to face the Indian investigation unit. A court of inquiry was set up and Cronje admitted to throwing matches. He was immediately banned from all crickets. He also named Saleem Malik (Pakistan), Mohammed Azharuddin and Ajay Jadeja (India). Jadeja was banned for four years. They too were banned from all crickets. Two South African cricketers, Herschelle Gibbs and Nicky Boje, were also listed as wanted by the Delhi police for their role in the scandal.

37. Operation Westend (2001):-

The terms “sting operation” and “investigative journalism” became household words, thanks to Tehelka. India’s first ever sting operation in 2001 blew the lid off the nexus between politicians and defense officials in defense deals. Using hidden cameras, TEHELKA caught many senior politicians of NDA and defense personnel negotiating a fictitious defense deal. The operation took nearly eight months and the biggest catch was the then BJP president Bangaru Laxman, who was filmed accepting cash for pushing the fictitious defence deal.

38. Home Trade Scam (2002):-

Sanjay Agarwal, the absconding CEO of the collapsed Home Trade, gave life a new definition. He sold the slogan "Life means more" to the public.

Life for Agarwal definitely meant a lot more. He founded his dream, Home Trade, through an advertising blitz unparalleled in India when he brought together Sachin Tendulkar, Hrithik Roshan and Shah Rukh Khan in February last year to endorse a brand that seemed to have no underlying product.

Starting as a financial services portal, Home Trade was to become so popular that its logo would be stamped on T-shirts, mutual fund applications, shares of companies, perhaps even toilet paper.

A year later, Agarwal presides over the debris of his dream, hiding to escape arrest for allegedly duping close to 20 cooperative banks. He is charged with taking Rs 400 crore from these banks to buy government securities on their behalf and failing to hand the gilts over to the banks.

The 100-odd employees of the Mumbai-based Home Trade are shell-shocked. "How could he do this?" is the standard response. Till less than a month ago, they had sworn by Agarwal. Some had given up successful careers to hitch a ride on to his dream wagon either as employees or to work in entities that provided support to the project.

For several months, the gravy train chugged along fine. The staff could walk into Agarwal's room when they wanted, always finding there a boss who "welcomed" new ideas. They admired his Armani T-shirts, yet found it strange that this 35-year-old bachelor from Kolkata who loved the good things in life had not changed his white Opel Astra in over two years.

The first signs of trouble came towards the end of 2001 when salaries started coming late. The glitch was blamed on the bad market conditions, an excuse that worked fine at the time. The cash flow slowed down to a trickle when a Hong Kong-based NRI investor, Baluchan Rai, believed to have turned off the tap in January this year.

Major funding for Home Trade came from a Mauritian firm, EDTV, which was owned by Agarwal's brother Dhananjay Agarwal. Finance Director N.K. Trivedi and Ketan Sheth, a broker, were also major shareholders in Home Trade. Both, along with another promoter Subodh Bhandari, are absconding.

Agarwal's public relations agency Adfactors walked out on him in March 2002 as did Scapevelocity, the company which was developing and maintaining the website. Almost all have some dues to claim from Agarwal. Hrithik Roshan has slapped a bill of Rs 65 lakh, though model Malaika Arora says she got her dues. A content provider for the Home Trade website is saddled with more than Rs 4 lakh in unpaid bills and has shut down his venture.

Otherwise a confident man, Agarwal was petrified of the media. A call from a newspaper would send him into a tizzy, recalls an employee. Obviously, he had lots to hide. A peep into his past and some recent interactions his company had with stock exchanges reveal his true story.

On January 16, 1997, when the Sensex oscillated by over 330 points (157 up and then 176 down) in the span of an hour, Agarwal, CEO of Lloyds Brokerage, and his team were punching in transactions at breakneck speed. A probe by SEBI found that Agarwal's firm was the biggest trader that day. It was suspected that prices had been rigged, and SEBI served a show-cause notice to Lloyds Brokerage.

But even while the proceedings were on, EDTV bought out the management control of Lloyds for a piffling Rs 1.50 a share and renamed it Euro-Asian Securities. Surprisingly, SEBI gave its nod to the change in management, even though the firm was being probed for a serious charge. With the management having changed, SEBI could take little action against Lloyds Brokerage and let it off with a warning in October 1999.

Euro-Asian Securities then offered its shares to the public at a hefty Rs 50 per share, raising Rs 30 crore from the issue. A large chunk of the issue was mopped up by just a handful of people, with 42 shareholders holding more than 97 percent of the company's equity. It could not get listed on the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) and opted for the Pune Stock Exchange (PSE). The company was then renamed Home Trade.

Though thinly traded, the company's share price remained strong. It was later discovered that a clutch of brokers were trading among themselves. No regulator bothered to check on whose behalf these brokers were transacting. The Home Trade share hit a high of Rs 890 in mid-2000.

Agarwal was desperate to get Home Trade listed on the BSE and the NSE for the alleged purpose of jacking the share price further, which he could have easily done given his control over 94 percent of the company's shares. Perhaps he was on the lookout for an opportune time to offload a chunk of his stake in Home Trade and make a killing.

But his plans went awry when both the exchanges rejected the listing. Intriguingly, BSE had cleared the listing on April 19 but revoked it a week later. One reason for this was that almost 99 percent of Home Trade's Rs 67 crore revenue in 2000-1 came from intergroup share transfers.

What blew the lid off the scam simmering within Home Trade were its dealings on behalf of certain cooperative banks. Agarwal took money from nearly 20 banks to buy government securities for them and then allegedly sold the same securities to other banks.

The banks were given only photocopies of the certificates so they never suspected anything. Investigators reveal that in September 2001, Agarwal bought government securities worth Rs 55 crore for Pune-based Sadguru Jangli Maharaj Cooperative Bank and gave it a photocopy of the certificates.

These securities were then allegedly resold to the Nagpur District Central Cooperative Bank (NDCCB). Although government securities worth several hundred crores of rupees were ostensibly bought by Home Trade, only a fraction was delivered to the banks.

Another theory says that Agarwal bought the government securities but used them as collateral to take loans from banks. Some even say that he never bought the government securities and instead gave forged contract notes, while deploying the money elsewhere and keeping the cooperative banks happy by giving them a fixed rate of return.

Having turned into a cooperative bank scam rather than just a failure of Home Trade, it is likely that investigations will expose a vicious broker-banker-politician nexus running across several cooperative banks and brokerage firms.

NDCCB Chairman and Nationalist Congress Party leader Sunil Kedar, who is also a former state minister, has already been arrested for alleged collusion with Agarwal. More heads will roll. "This is just the tip of the iceberg. Where this scam will end no one knows," says BJP MP Kirit Somaiya.

For the enforcement agencies, the first task is to nab Agarwal. For the RBI and SEBI, it is time to scrutinise all banking and stock market transactions of Agarwal and his associates. All those who have burnt their fingers in this scam can find solace in Agarwal's mantra-life means more.

39. Taj Heritage Corridor Scam (2002-03):-

This scam created quite uproar in UP state Assembly. The then chief minister of UP Mayawati and her ‘Man Friday’ Naseemuddin Siddiqui were accused of receiving kickbacks for giving the green signal to upgrade tourist facilities near the Taj Mahal without obtaining a clearance for the project from the central environment ministry.

40. HUDCO (2003):-

This makes for a good study on how the funds of public sector units (PSUs) are looted. The Rs 14,500 crore HUDCO loan scam took place during the tenure of Ananth Kumar as urban development minister in the then NDA government. A PIL revealed the arbitrary sanction of loans by HUDCO and misuse of funds and other facilities of the public sector undertaking by Kumar.

41. Oil For Food Scandal (2004):-

The independent inquiry committee headed by Paul Volcker while investigating the anomalies in international Oil for Food scheme found that Congress leader Natwar Singh, his son Jagat Singh and Jagat’s friend Andaleeb Sehgal were corrupt beneficiaries of the scheme. When the report was made public, Singh, who was also a Union minister for external affairs, was travelling abroad. As fallout of the exposé, he was relieved of his portfolio the moment he landed in Delhi.

42. Bihar Flood Scam (2004):-

Controversial former MP Sadhu Yadav may have severed all political ties with brother-in-law Lalu Prasad, but his past "exploits" continue to dog him.

Bihar's vigilance bureau has filed a charge sheet against Sadhu in connection with the Rs 17-crore flood relief scam that rocked the state in 2004. It submitted the charge sheet to the vigilance court in Patna.

The bureau had filed an FIR against Sadhu in 2006 and charged him with receiving Rs 6 lakh from Santosh Jha, the alleged kingpin of the scam who had transferred the amount in January 2005 to the former MP's bank account in the State Bank of India's Patna secretariat's branch.

Sadhu claimed Jha had paid him the money for his Opel Astra car which was sold to the latter's father, Sribhagwan. Sadhu also said he had bought the car from Sumit Ranjan Jena, a Delhi-based businessman, and sold it to Sribhagwan.

But Jena complained to the Delhi Police that he had never sold the car to Sadhu, who had just taken away the vehicle from him to Patna.

Jena, who had purchased the car with an ICICI Bank loan, said Sadhu did not return the car despite being asked to. Jena then complained to the Kalkaji police in Delhi. Sadhu has also been charged with getting the car's ownership rights in 2006 via backdated documents.

During the probe, the vigilance sleuths discovered that no vehicle was registered in Sadhu's name till December 12, 2005. He allegedly got it registered fraudulently later, on June 16, 2004, with the help of transport department employees, Brij Rai and Girish Kumar Saha.

The investigating officers suspected the money transferred to Sadhu's account to be part of the Rs 17-crore flood relief fund that was swindled by Santosh through a fake agency he had floated to supply relief material. The fund was meant for providing relief material to the people of north Bihar and Goswami was the state government's nodal officer for the purpose.

Former Patna district magistrate Gautam Goswami (who has since died) was arrested along with Santosh and 19 others in connection with the case.

Sadhu had earlier surrendered in the vigilance court and was sent to jail before being released on bail. He had quit Lalu's RJD and joined the Congress in 2009.

43. Taj Co-Operative Group Housing Scam (2004):-

Paving way for trial of Narayan Diwakar, the alleged kingpin of Rs 4000-crore Taj Co-operative Group Housing Scheme scam, a special CBI court has framed charges against him and four others in the 7-year-old case.

Besides, Diwakar, former registrar of co-operative society (RCS) official, the court framed charges of cheating, forgery, criminal conspiracy and corruption against Ram Nath, and Faiz Mohammed, former inspectors of RCS and Anna Wankhede and D.N. Sharma, officials of the defunct Taj Society which was allegedly revived by all the accused to get land allotted from DDA at a cheaper rate.

The CBI had lodged the case on July 29, 2005 against six persons. However, the court discharged Srichand, a builder, saying the agency has not found sufficient evidence against him.

"I find that a prima facie case to frame charge under section 120-B (criminal conspiracy) read with sections 420 (cheating), 468 (forgery) and 471 (using forged documents) of IPC and section 13 (2) read with 13(1)(d) (relating to criminal Misconduct by a public servant) of the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988 is made out against accused Wankhede, Diwakar, Sharma, Ram Nath and Faiz Mohd," Special CBI Judge R P Pandey said.

"Accused Srichand stands discharged and his bail bond is cancelled and surety stands discharged," the judge added.

The CBI had alleged that the Taj housing society was set up in 1972 and wound up in 1979 by RCS, but Diwakar allegedly approved the proposal to revive it with the help of forged documents and signatures in connivance with other accused persons on March 11, 2004.

The CBI said that Diwakar, in a criminal conspiracy along with five others, fraudulently and dishonestly revived Taj CGHS on the basis of bogus and fake documents with the sole intention to get land allotted from DDA at a cheaper rate.

It alleges that the builder mafia conspired with the RCS and exploited provisions of Delhi Co-operative Societies (DCS) Act which allows for the revival of wound-up societies.

The Taj CGHS was set up in 1972 and wound-up in 1979, with a brief existence in amalgamated form as Taj Sartaj CGHS. However, sometime in 2003, the original files of Taj CGHS and its amalgamated successor Taj Sartaj CGHS disappeared from the RCS office.

On October 1, 2003, the RCS received a request from Wankhede to cancel the winding-up order of the CGHS and to revive it instead, under the DCS Act. On January 7, 2004, Diwakar approved the proposal to reconstruct the society's file without raising any questions about the missing original file, the CBI said.

This proposal was recommended and forwarded by the then RCS Inspector Mohd and Sharma who was the assistant registrar during that period, who did not initiate any steps to inform the police about the missing documents, it said.

The RCS approved reconstruction of the file without verifying the liquidation order, which, the CBI alleges was deliberately done, and the society was eventually revived on March 11, 2004 with Diwakar's approval.

During the course of investigation, CBI found that 134 members out of a total strength of 135 were fictitious, the charge sheet had said.

The Taj CGHS Ltd had registered itself with RCS in 1972 with 54 members and subsequently new members were enrolled and its strength reached to 167 members.

In May, 1975 society was offered land by DDA, but it did not accept the land since society was expecting to get land in South Delhi from Wakf Board.

The society was, therefore, wound up by RCS liquidation order passed in 1979.

However, the Delhi High Court, on December 3, 1980 quashed the winding up order and consequently, DDA allotted land to the society in 1892 at Geeta Colony in East Delhi.

In 1988 the Taj CGHS Ltd was amalgamated with Taj Sartaj CGHS and a new registration number was allotted to it.

The accused had denied the charges in the court but the judge held that a prima facie case is made out and said "his acts, as alleged in charge sheet do not amount to doing the same in good faith, therefore, his claim for any protection is not tenable".

44. IPO (2005):-

During the launch of Initial Public Offerings floated by two firms, IDFC and Yes Bank, shares meant for retail investors were fraudulently cornered by others. During the investigation it was found that Karvy Consultants Ltd used fraudulent methods and opened several benami accounts for cornering the shares originally meant for retail investors.

45. Scorpene Submarine Scam (2005):-

This scam to the tune of Rs 19,000 crore is considered to be one of the largest bribery scandals, in which Rs 500 crore is alleged to have been paid to government decision-makers to strike a deal for purchasing six Scorpene submarines from Thales, a French company. High-flying middleman Abhishek Verma channelled the bribe amount.

46. Uttar Pradesh ayurveda scam (2006):-

he Supreme Court on Friday served a notice to UP panchayati raj minister Balram Yadav for his alleged involvement in the Rs 32-crore Ayurveda scam of 1993-94.

Balram Yadav, who was then the health minister in the Mulayam Singh Yadav government, had allegedly forced the officers of the state Ayurveda and Unani department to release inflated funds.

But when the officers refused, he turned to Mulayam to get those budgetary proposals cleared.

There were allegations that the documents were destroyed or fabricated and notings were made in back dates.

The health department had registered a case at Lucknow's Hazratganj police station in August 1996 alleging largescale financial embezzlement in the supply of medicines and medical kits. It was also alleged that the department had disbursed much more than the actual rate of medicines.

For example, liquid paraffin was bought at Rs 110 per bottle whereas the market rate was Rs 18 around that time.

The Lucknow Bench of the Allahabad High Court had handed over the case to the CBI. While the CBI had charge sheeted Yadav and then secretary, medical education, R. K. Sharma, they came out clean because of lack of prosecution sanction. Subsequently, the CBI moved the apex court.

The court had convicted and sentenced a person named Subhash Singh to four years in jail and handed a two year jail sentence to his father Prem Pratap Singh for supplying medicines and medical equipment by forging documents with the help of the officers of the department in Basti district.

Last year, the CBI arrested Shivraj Singh, former director of the Ayurveda department and attached his property in Muzaffarnagar. The investigating agency has so far filed 35 chargesheets against over 205 accused.

Yadav said he would reply after going through the notice which he has yet to receive. "It is a routine process and I'll come out clean," he said.

But his presence in the government is bound to give a tough time to chief minister Akhilesh Yadav - voted to power in the hope that he would eliminate corruption and crime in the state.

Yadav's name had also cropped up in the multi-crore food scam in UP. He is also an accused in a double murder in Azamgarh in 2011. His son and SP MLA, Sangram Singh, is a co-accused in the killing.

47. Penny Stock Scam (2006):-

Income Tax Authorities in India in 2006 under the leadership of the then Commissioner of Income Tax of Bangalore and the Additional Commissioner of Income Tax Dr Sibichen K Mathew IRS unearthed the 1.6 million dollar penny stock scam in Bangalore. The scam is the fallout of nationwide income tax raids on the premises of businessmen in April 2006, suspecting large scale money laundering and tax evasion through ramping up shares of small firms. Around 25 premises were raided in Mumbai and 10 in Bangalore. After the raids, the Additional Commissioner set up up a team and investigated this scam. They pursued the investigations and issued orders on December 31, 2008 that are said to have national ramifications. The team found that the traders had ramped up penny stocks to launder money an organised crime and a serious economic offence that has misused provisions of the Securities and Exchange Board of India and Registrar of Co-operatives. This route is chosen to use capital gains tax and legalise the unaccounted money. On April 28, the Central Board of Direct Taxes and the Ministry of Finance billed the case as the best investigation and assessment order of the year. The team picked up accounts of 30 Chikpet traders who were into penny stocks and found bogus claims through capital gains.
The finding has also debunked the claim that demat is sacrosanct though the depository participation did not have any role in the manipulation, the demat procedure was misused.
Sources: TimesOfIndia.com

48. Ludhiana City Centre Project Scam (2006):-

This multi-crore scam had high profile politicians like former chief minister Amarinder Singh and his son among the accused. It was alleged that despite objections by the authorities concerned, Amarinder Singh-led Congress government gave green signal to the project being developed by Ludhiana Improvement Trust in collaboration with ‘Today Homes’ on 25.5 acres of prime land. It was also alleged that the Rs 3,000 crore ‘Ludhiana City Centre’ project did not even have the required plan sanction.

49. Rice Scam (2006):-

The CBI in January conducted a series of raids at 11 places across four states and a union territory and booked more than 50 Food Corporation of India (FCI) officials, including an IAS officer, for allegedly purchasing poor quality rice and causing a loss of Rs 320 crore to the exchequer. It was found during the investigation that these officials purchased rice at exorbitant prices although it was not even fit for human consumption.

50. State Bank Of Saurashtra Scam (2008):-

After only two months of grand merger of over 420 branches of State Bank of Saurashtra (SBS) with the State Bank of India, the Reserve Bank of India noticed fraud of Rs 96 crore by the Bhavnagar branch of SBS. It was the head branch of the SBS before the merger. A case of fraud and cheating was registered against the branch’s head cashier for misappropriation of cash.

51. Army Ration Pilferage Scam (2008):-

The scam came to light after the Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) Police found that special rations and clothes meant for soldiers serving at the Siachen glacier were being sold in open market. The J&K Police arrested three local shopkeepers in connection with the pilferage and recorded their “confessional statement” under Section 164 of the Criminal Procedure Code before a magistrate. Based on the confessional statement, the police summoned eight army officials, including a lieutenant colonel of the Leh-based 14 Corps.

52. HASAN ALI BLACK MONEY LAUNDERING SCAM (2008):-

This scam, worth more than Rs 40,000 crore, was unearthed when Hasan Ali, an Indian businessman was arrested for money laundering. The investigation showed how Ali stashed black money in Swiss banks with the help of Kolkata-based businessman Kashinath Tapuriah and Delhi-based Praveen Kumar using the hawala channel.

53. GOA SPECIAL ECONOMIC ZONE SCAM (2009):-

A CAG report tabled in Goa state assembly in 2009 stirred up a storm. The report made critical remarks on massive irregularities in land allotments by the Goa Industrial Development Corporation to SEZ promoters. The main opposition party in the state, the BJP, pressed for a CBI probe.

54. MADHU KODA SCAM (2009):-

From daily wage labourer to the chief minister of Jharkhand, Madhu Koda’s rise to the top was an awe-inspiring story. However, in October 2009, the Enforcement Directorate charged Koda with money laundering to the tune of over Rs 4,000 crore. He was accused of possessing assets disproportionate with his income. It was found that Koda held more than 1,800 bank accounts all over the globe and within four years of becoming the chief minister, established a business empire spanning Thailand, Indonesia, Singapore and Dubai.

55. SATYAM SCAM (2009):-

There was a time in Hyderabad when Satyam Computer Services’ offices were almost everywhere in the city. Chairman Ramalinga Raju was the role model for the youths of the state. But in 2009 all the hype created around Satyam fell flat when Raju confessed that the company’s accounts had been falsified. In February 2009, the case was handed over to the CBI. The scam was dubbed as “India’s Enron”. The government stepped in to save the firm by appointing a new board of directors and orchestrated its sale to the Mahindra group. The firm is now called Mahindra Satyam. Several officials were arrested along with Raju under various charges including fraud.

56. JHARKHAND MEDICAL EQUIPMENT SCAM (2009):-

The Rs 130 crore scam was exposed in 2009 and it involved a state health minister and two state health secretaries. The accused were charged with purchasing medicines, vehicles, and medical equipment from 19 private firms at higher rates, thereby causing huge financial loss to the state exchequer.

57. RICE EXPORT SCAM (2009):-

The scam was exposed by the Ghana government after Indian rice meant to be exported to Africa under hunger alleviation projects, was diverted to different countries. The amount involved was a whopping Rs 2,500 crore.

58. ODISHA MINE SCAM (2009):-

Odisha witnessed its worst scam in 2009 worth Rs 50,000 crore. A petition filed in the Supreme Court claimed that out of the 300 major mines in Keonjhar, Sundargarh and Mayurbhanj districts of Odhisa, leases of 155 had expired and yet plunder of the mines was going on unabated.

59. DEENDAYAL UPADHYAYA TRUST SCAM (2009):-

A case under different sections of cheating, criminal conspiracy and breach of trust was registered against Vasundhara Raje and five others in connection with the Deendayal Upadhyaya Trust land scam. The scam related to allotment of 7,693 square metres of land at a prime location in the Civil Lines area in Jaipur to a trust headed by Raje, at a concessional rate of five per cent of the market price that prevailed in July 2006 during the Bharatiya Janata Party regime.

60. CWG SCAM (2010):-

From toilet rolls to treadmills, from soap dispensers to towels, everything was either rented or purchased at highly inflated prices. Sample this: liquid dispensers were rented for Rs 9.379 apiece. No wonder the operating expenses for Commonwealth Games soared from Rs 399 crore to Rs 1,628 crore. Preparations for the sporting extravaganza consumed a huge sum of about Rs 70,000 crore. It involved a large network of politicians, bureaucrats and corporate houses. It was free-for-all loot. Chairman of the organising committee Suresh Kalmadi, and his aides were finally nabbed in the scam and were put behind bars.

61. ADARSH HOUSING SOCIETY SCAM (2010):-

The scam was unearthed in 2010 and resulted in the resignation of the then chief minister of Maharashtra, Ashok Chavan. The Adarsh Housing Society is a posh, 31- storey building constructed on prime real estate in Colaba Mumbai for the welfare of war widows. During the investigation it was found that top Congress politicians from the state including Ashok Chavan, some senior military officials and bureaucrats connived to bend many rules to get themselves flats allotted in this cooperative society.

62. JAGANMOHAN REDDY SCAM (2011):-

In his election declaration, YSR Reddy in 2004 showed his son Jaganmohan Reddy’s assets as Rs 9.2 lakh. In April 2009, Jagan revealed total assets of Rs 77 crore and by 2011 this ballooned to Rs 365 crore. Jagan was arrested and sent to jail.

63. LIC HOUSING LOAN SCAM (2011):-

The CBI arrested the CEO of LIC Housing Finance as well as top executives of certain public sector banks and financial institutions, for receiving illegal payment to facilitate large-scale corporate loans.

64. BELLARY MINING SCAM (2011):-

In July 2011, Karnataka Lokayukta Santosh Hegde submitted a report concerning the illegal mining in Bellary mines. The report accused mining moguls, ministers, government officials and even banks of conspiring to cheat the state of thousands of crores of rupees. The report said that the Obulapuram Mining Company, Associated Mining Company, GLA Trading and GJR Holdings, all owned by the Reddy brothers, were involved in illegal transactions and mining. The report also indicted BS Yeddyurappa. It accused the chief minister and his family of accepting bribes in the form of donations to family run trusts from mining corporations.

65. UTTAR PRADESH SEED CORPORATION SCAM (2012):-

Though the UP Seed Development Corporation was supposed to distribute seeds free of cost to farmers, investigations revealed that officers pocketed the money by showing fictitious names of beneficiaries on paper. Interestingly, the scam was exposed by an affected farmer, who used the power of RTI Act to sniff out the trail of the missing seeds.

66. NHRM UTTAR PRADESH SCAM (2012):-

The whiff of a scam started circulating in Uttar Pradesh after two chief medical officers (CMOs) were successively murdered in the state capital. The case was handed over to CBI. The investigations showed how top politicians and bureaucrats in the then Mayawati regime siphoned off a massive sum from the National Rural Health Mission. Such was the quantum of the scam that the then Prime Minister Manmohan Singh himself accused the Mayawati-led government of misusing the NHRM funds.

67. IRON ORE FREIGHT SCAM (2013):-

An iron ore freight evasion scam led to a loss of Rs 29,236 crore for Indian Railways between 2008 and 2013, the Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG) has said. This comes amid an ongoing investigation by the Central Bureau of Investigation in a similar case involving tampering of electronic weighing machines for wagons to evade freight charges.

In a report presented to Parliament on Friday, the auditor said the revenue loss had resulted from manipulations in the dual freight policy, under which the railways charges less for transporting iron ore for domestic use and more, almost three times, for transporting the commodity for export.

The dual rate policy was aimed at capitalizing on the increasing global iron ore prices in 2008. “The audit report highlights the deficiencies in compliance with the rules in booking and delivering iron ore at the domestic rate by the railway officials concerned, which resulted in a financial loss of expected goods earnings to the extent of Rs 29,236 crore,” the CAG said.

The overall loss includes freight evasion of Rs 12,722 crore and non-imposition of penalty to the tune of Rs 11,418 crore, owing to partial or non-submission of documents, as well as submission of invalid documents, besides a penalty of Rs 5,095 crore for diversion of the iron ore transported at the domestic rate for trading. The CAG’s findings are based on a review of records from 87 loading points across seven railway zones and 180 unloading points across 15 zones.

“Acceptance of partial documents from 218 consignees and allowing booking of iron ore, charging freight at domestic rates by the railway for 5,083 rakes led to freight evasion of Rs 2,309 crore. Non-submission, partial submission and submission of invalid documents in respect of Steel Authority of India Ltd resulted in short charging of freight of Rs 4,838 crore,” the report said.

The report also details multiple cases in which iron ore was transported at domestic rates but not consumed for domestic use, as well as various deficiencies in the dual freight policy and how railway officials failed to verify the end-use.

68. IAS COUPLE ARVIND AND TINOO JOSHI SCAM (2014):-

Madhya Pradesh IAS couples Arvind Joshi and Tinoo Joshi were sacked in 2014 after an income tax raid revealed that they had amassed wealth highly disproportionate to their sources of income. During the raid, the IT officers had detected wealth in excess of Rs 350 crore and recovered Rs 3 crore cash.

69. DELHI JAL BOARD SCAM (2014):-

A day after he caused a furor with charges of corruption within Delhi's power distribution companies, Aam Aadmi Party's Arvind Kejriwal on Saturday alleged a scam of more than Rs 10,000 crore in Delhi Jal Board. At the first of his 51 public meetings scheduled for the coming two weeks, Kejriwal accused the government of being hand-in-glove with private companies.

"The Sonia Vihar water treatment plant is being operated by French company Degremont. They claim to be supplying 140 million gallons per day while the raw water supply to the plant is just 90 MGD. The government is also paying them for 140 MGD. How can they possibly manufacture an extra 50 MGD," he asked.

"With 90 MGD raw water, they would be managing to clean about 80-85 MGD, which is what they would be supplying. To explain what is happening to the non-existent 50-55 MGD, they told the government that the water was being lost in transit due to leaking pipes. Instead of questioning this malpractice, the government gave the same company the contract to change pipelines and collect bills," he said. Kejriwal also spoke about the Nangloi WTP, which is also being handed over to a private company. "The company will not pay for raw water or power etc. because the government will take care of these expenses. Despite this, it will be paid Rs 15/kl for treatment and distribution, a job being carried out by DJB at present for Rs 5/kl."

The Najafgarh meeting was attended by about 500 people. Kejriwal's focus seems to be on corruption within the government. He said, had privatization improved efficiency, prices of services would have come down. Instead, "prices of everything from power to water and cooking gas have raised manifold since private players were brought in."

DJB, meanwhile, denied all the allegations. In a statement it said: "The Sonia Vihar Treatment Plant receives 270 cusecs (more than 140 MGD) raw water from UP. However, pending the signing of a MOU for Sonia Vihar payments are being made to UP for 90 MGD."

Regarding the Nangloi WTP, DJB said the private contractor is not being paid more than what it costs the jal board to produce and supply water. "The treatment of water costs DJB Rs15.43 per kilolitre. The contract awarded for Nangloi, through an open and transparent bidding process, is at Rs14.99 per kilolitre billed and collected. This includes all operation and maintenance costs (excluding power and raw water) and return on investment of 30% required to extend piped water supply to all households in the service area and maintain continuous supply with pressure to reach up to the third floor. The operator has been incentivized to reduce commercial and physical losses and will be paid only for water billed and collected."

70. ODISHA INDUSTRIAL LAND MORTGAGE SCAM (2014):-

Odisha industry minister Debi Prasad Mishra has sought a factual report from Industrial Infrastructure Development Corporation (Idco) on the R52,000-crore industrial land mortgage scam.

The Comptroller & Auditor General (CAG) of India has rapped Idco for issuing a no-objection certificate (NOC) to industrial houses, enabling them to mortgage industrial land to raise R52, 500-crore loans from various banks.

The minister called for a report from Idco, after the opposition parties demanded a CBI probe into the matter.

Meanwhile, several industry bodies have expressed fears that the controversy would further complicate the process of getting loans.

The North Odisha Chamber of Commerce & Industries, which is leading the forum that also has Odisha Industries Federation, Odisha Assembly of Small & Medium Enterprises and Odisha Young Entrepreneurs Association, said there were no irregularities in Idco giving the NOC. Moreover, the state has already amended the Idco act, empowering the government to issue NOCs.

70. ‘CHIKKI’ Scam (2015):-

Maharashtra women and child development minister Pankaja Munde is in the thick of a controversy after being accused of flouting norms, In a Rs 206 crore order she cleared purchase of ‘chikki’, mats and books for Rs 206 crore without floating tenders for the same. According to rules, any government purchase above Rs 3 lakh has to be done through e-tendering.

71. NTC LAND SCAM (2015):-

CBI has registered a case against former Union textiles minister Shankarsinh Vaghela and five others for selling over 27,000 square metre of prime National Textile Corporation property in Mumbai to a private company allegedly at “throwaway prices”, causing loss of over R700 crore to the exchequer.

CBI sources said, after an year-long inquiry, the agency has registered an FIR under IPC sections related to criminal conspiracy and cheating and provisions of the Prevention of Corruption Act concerning criminal misconduct.

Besides former Gujarat chief minister Vaghela, those named in the FIR are the then chairman-cum-managing director of National Textile Corporation K Ramachandran Pillai, it’s the then director (technical) R K Sharma, senior manager (legal) M K Khare and a Kolkata-based private firm and its director, the sources said.

Soon after registering the FIR, CBI on Wednesday carried out searches at the residence of Vaghela in Gandhinagar, houses of Pillai, Sharma and Khare here, offices of NTC here and in Mumbai and the residence of the private company director in Kolkata.

The case pertains to the sale of NTC property in the posh Worli area of Mumbai to the Kolkata-based firm at a meagre Rs 29.35 crore. It is alleged during UPA regime, Vaghela had overruled recommendations of his ministry officials, the CBI sources said.

72. Sunil Mantri of Mantri Housing of Pune and Bengaluru Scam (2016):-

To this, Mantri said that the money was paid as advance for a property and that he was ready to give him the property. Both parties filed consent terms after which all the cases were withdrawn and it was promised that Mantri would pay Rs 1, 67, 25,000 through 21 cheques. Mantri also issued 21 cheques but the remaining Rs 49 lakh was not paid. So Arora approached the court yet again. This order from the court was issued after Mantri did not appear in front of the court.

73. Maharashtra scholarship scam (2017):-

A probe into allegations of swindling of government scholarships meant for backward class students has revealed that hundreds of institutes across the state pocketed several thousand crores by adopting different ploys since 2010. The probe report was submitted by a panel chaired by Nagpur Commissioner of Police K Venkateshan to the state government last month. The panel set up by the state government in February last month comprised two IAS members Ranjit Singh Deol and Piyush Kumar.

The panel checked audit records of 1,382 institutes and those of departments of Social Welfare and Tribal Development, which released the scholarships for SC, ST, OBC, VJ and NT categories of students. “Irregularities were detected at both the ends and the total amount defrauded in these checked institutes was Rs 2,174 crore. The state has 12,679 institutes benefitting under Social Welfare and about 11,000 institutes benefitting under Tribal Department scholarships. If records are checked for all of them, the size of the scam could be several thousand crore more,” sources told The Indian Express.

The panel has recommended a detailed and in-depth probe into the matter by state CID (Crime).

The panel has found that while the proprietors of these institutes carried out the fraud at their level, those officials in charge of scrutiny of the whole process and of keeping a tight leash on misappropriation had turned a Nelson’s eye towards the goings-on despite being fully seized of them. The two departments release total scholarship worth over Rs 3,000 per annum. This means over the past six years, the money released was in the range of Rs 18,000 crore.

The modus operandi was to register fictitious students either directly or by using duplicate transfer certificates (TCs) of students to register same student in various courses, many of which only existed on paper. Scholarships were disbursed even for non-eligible courses. The scholarships meant for students undertaking professional courses were bifurcated in two parts. Ninety percent of the amount meant for training and other fees were deposited in the institute’s account and the remaining 10 per cent was deposited in the students’ accounts for their daily expenses. “Many of these institutes were being run from a single-room facility providing more than one courses,” the probe report has mentioned.

The panel also found out that in many cases, scholarships were pocketed twice a year by bifurcating yearly courses in two semesters.

Shockingly, in the age of Digital India, the entire system was being operated manually on paper instead of on a fool-proof computer software.

What makes the oversight at the government scrutiny level curious is that many 10 per cent student’s components returned to the two departments since those students never existed in reality and yet no red flags were raised. Sources said, “the panel has pointed out that this could be due to complicity of the officials and staffers concerned in the whole affair.”

Disbursals, however, came down drastically since the time the probe was instituted, according to sources.

Incidentally, the probe panel, in its interim report six months ago, had recommended initiation of criminal action in 70 “very obvious” cases of frauds. The government hasn’t moved in a single case so far.

The panel has called Rs 2,174 as “recoverable amount”. “Part of it is the 10 per cent meant for student’s personal expenses that have returned to government coffers, amount attributable to cases where audit papers were not shown to the panel by the errant institutes and amount releases to ineligible students and courses. And till date only Rs 64 crore have so far returned to government coffers,” sources added.

The panel has also suggested some measures to check future swindling of scholarship funds. They include, biometric registration of students’ attendance, payments be linked to attendance and all rules and regulations be implemented by way of incorporating the system into a computer software.

74. Noida Ponzi scheme (2017):-

The father of Anubhav Mittal, who is accused of running a Rs 3,700 online Ponzi scheme, was arrested by Uttar Pradesh police’s special task force on Friday, officials said on Saturday.

Anubhav’s father Sunil Mittal and his wife Ayushi Agarwal were recently declared as accused in the case and the SIT was preparing to obtain non-bailable warrants against them from a court after they could not be traced during several searches in Ghaziabad, Kanpur, Hapur and Noida.

Sunil is one of the two directors of the company while Ayushi was made an additional director of Ablaze after she got married to Anubhav and was directly responsible for the affairs of the company.

“Sunil was finally arrested from Navyug Market in Ghaziabad and had kept changing locations in Pilkhuwa, Ghaziabad, Delhi and Kanpur. Ayushi is still wanted in the case and yet to be traced,” an official of the special investigation team said.

Anubhav was arrested along with two of his colleagues by the UP-STF from Noida on February 2. The 26-year-old is accused of swindling Rs 3,700 crore from 7 lakh people, who were promised handsome returns by clicking on web links, in one of the biggest internet scams in recent times.

Sunil, 50, belongs to Pilkhuwa town in UP’s Hapur district and operated a small electrical shop, Mittal Electronics, in Kishanganj Mohalla. Anubhav’s grandfather Ved Prakash runs a small grocery shop that sells household items like sugar, salt, oil among others.

A team of income-tax officials had also conducted a raid at Mittal’s residence but Sunil could not be found.

“Sunil being the director of the company was paid salary of Rs 5 lakh. We have also found that an amount of Rs 5 crore was also transferred from Ablaze to Mittal’s shop through an account. But, the motive of the transaction is not known. It is suspected that the amount was transferred as a ‘payback’ and diversion of funds,” Rajiv Narayan Mishra, additional superintendent of police, UP-STF, said.

Sunil now faces charges of cheating, forgery and criminal conspiracy and also of laundering money.

The Enforcement Directorate – India’s financial crime probe agency – earlier lodged an FIR for money laundering on the basis of the initial FIR lodged by UP-STF as Anubhav is believed to have laundered a part of the money he collected from the investors and kept in two accounts in Axis Bank and Canara Bank.

During the ongoing investigation into the alleged internet scam, officials have also identified more than a dozen firms that were paid for services through Ablaze and later the money was returned in cash after the firms deducted certain amounts as their commission.

The STF also arrested Atul Mishra, a relationship manager with Yes Bank, for allegedly entering into a conspiracy with Anubhav and providing him information about bank’s suspicious transaction reports, raids by agencies and investigations.

The multilevel marketing and Ponzi schemes that were allegedly run through firms such as Ablaze Info Solutions Private Ltd, Social Trade India Pvt Ltd, 3W Digital Pvt Ltd and Intmaart India Pvt Ltd were the initiatives of Anubhav, Ayushi and others, the police said.

Ablaze claimed it promoted social media penetration and internet popularity for small-time businesses through getting maximum ‘likes’ on Facebook.

The company ran a website that promised would-be subscribers a chance to earn five rupees each time they clicked or liked web links sent to their mobile phones.

The unsuspecting investors each paid thousands of rupees into the company’s bank accounts to join the scheme. Police said some of the investors even got some money which helped bring in more people into the racket.

75. Punjab National Bank Scam (2011-18):-

Punjab National Bank Fraud Case relates to alleged fraudulent Letter of Undertaking worth ₹11,600 crore (USD 1.77 billion dollars)that took place at its branch in Brady House, Mumbai, making Punjab National Bank potentially liable for the amount.The fraudulent transactions are allegedly linked to designer and jeweler Nirav Modi of [firestar diamonds], against whom a complaint has been filed with the Central Bureau of Investigation.The transactions were first noticed by a new employee in the bank.

The bank said that two of its employees at the branch were involved in the scam, when the bank's core banking system was bypassed to raise to overseas branches of other Indian banks, including Allahabad Bank, Axis Bank, and Union Bank of India, using the international financial communication system, SWIFT.Three Jewellers - Gitanjali Gems Ltd and its subsidiaries Gili and Nakshatra are also under the scanner of investigation agencies.

76. ROTOMAC FRAUD (2018):-

A CBI court on Saturday handed over the custody of Rotomac pens owner Vikram Kothari and his son Rahul Kothari to the investigating agency for 11 days in connection with an alleged loan default to the tune of Rs3,695 crore.

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Saturday produced the Kotharis in the court of special judge M.P. Chaudhari after bringing them in Lucknow on transit remand from Delhi. The judge first took them in judicial custody and later remanded them in CBI custody for 11 days. Both Vikram Kothari and his son have been booked for cheating a consortium of seven nationalised banks.

Vikram Kothari’s wife Sadhna Kothari is also accused in the case. The CBI arrested the father-son duo on Thursday in Delhi after the agency alleged the accused were not cooperating with the probe. On a complaint of Bank of Baroda, the CBI had registered an FIR against the Kotharis for allegedly defaulting on loans taken by Rotomac Global Pvt. Ltd from the consortium of banks from 2008 onwards. The banks had extended loans worth Rs2,919 crore to the company and the amount swelled to Rs3,695 crore, including the accrued interest, because of repeated defaults on payment by the company, the agency has claimed.

The CBI initiated the action on the complaint of Bank of Baroda, a member of the consortium led by Bank of India, which had approached the agency fearing that Vikram Kothari might flee India after billionaire diamantaire Nirav Modi and owner of Gitanjali Gems Mehul Choksi reportedly left India before the registration of a case against them.

Modi and Choksi are the two main accused in the alleged Rs11, 400-crore Punjab National Bank scam. In the Rotomac case, the principal exposure of the banks regarding the loan is Bank of India Rs754.77 crore, Bank of Baroda Rs456.63 crore, Overseas Bank of India Rs771.07 crore, Union Bank of India Rs458.95 crore, Allahabad Bank Rs330.68 crore, Bank of Maharashtra Rs49.82 crore and Oriental Bank of Commerce Rs97.47 crore, the agency has said.

On Friday, a Delhi court allowed one-day transit remand to the CBI to take Vikram Kothari and his son Rahul to Lucknow to produce them before a court there in connection with the case, saying their presence in Uttar Pradesh was required to recover the alleged siphoned-off money. While seeking their transit remand, the CBI had claimed that it needed to recover the crime proceeds and unearth the larger conspiracy.

The agency sought the remand “to produce the accused before the competent court of M P Chaudhary, special judge, Lucknow, in the interest of justice”. Advocate Pramod Kumar Dubey, appearing for the Kotharis, had opposed the CBI plea, saying the accused were “illegally detained”.