BENGALURU:  The Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB), probing cases of misappropriation of funds and fake bill generation, on Thursday searched the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike’s (BBMP) Bommanahalli zonal office and seized several documents. The searches were part of the investigation into these irregularities, with a combined worth of Rs 934 crore, cases of which were handed over to the ACB on October 2017.

According to the ACB, similar irregularities were reported from across the city. While one case is related to the generation of fake bills worth Rs 550 crore, against 6,600 fake pourakarmikas, the other pertains to misappropriation of funds to the tune of Rs 384 cr. The funds were released to the civic agency to provide ESI and PF benefits to these employees.

A few teams of officials carried out searches at the Bommanahalli zonal office from Thursday morning, and seized several documents related to the case. “Irregularities were reported in all BBMP zones. Documents from other zones were collected for the probe,” an ACB official said. 

Sources in the ACB said that other BBMP zones had submitted documents related to the case, after the ACB sought them as part of the investigation. “However, the Bommanahalli zonal office had not furnished the required documents, despite reminders by ACB. Due to this, it was decided to search the office and seize documents related to the case,” the official added. 

In October 2017, ACB had registered cases against BBMP staff and contractors for the alleged scam, following a survey by Karnataka State Commission for Safai Karmacharis, which had hinted at irregularities. According to the findings of the survey by the Commission, bills were submitted to BBMP, claiming that around 19,000 pourakarmikas were employed by 87 contractors between 2006 to 2016. However, the survey had found that only around 12,400 pourakarmikas were employed, while the remainder were non-existent.