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Time of India

Govt gives clean chit to PHE minister, closes probe in 10 days

Bhopal: The Madhya Pradesh govt closed an internal inquiry into a complaint alleging irregularities involving Rs 30,000 crore allocated under the Jal Jeevan Mission and involving Public Health Engineering (PHE) minister Sampatiya Uikey within 10 days. The PHE Department described the allegations as "baseless and without evidence." Former MLA Kishore Samrite filed the complaint, and the PMO forwarded it to Chief Secretary Anurag Jain, who passed it to Principal Secretary P Narhari's office. He subsequently moved it to Chief Engineer Sanjay Andhavan (ENC), who initiated an inquiry. The state govt issued an official release stating that the inquiry was closed due to lack of evidence. Meanwhile, insiders say that engineer-in-chief (ENC) Sanjay Andhavan, who took cognizance of the matter, faces internal pressure for his 'proactive' handling of a politically sensitive issue. He reportedly faces heat within the department for acting quickly on a complaint involving a sitting minister. The internal inquiry concluded in less than 10 days found that the complaint relied solely on RTI documents and lacked verifiable proof of financial misconduct. The department called the allegations "fabricated, baseless, and devoid of facts." Not convinced by the findings, Samrite approached the Madhya Pradesh High Court, seeking a CBI investigation. He alleged that PHE minister Sampatiya Uikey received Rs 1,000 crore in commission from Jal Jeevan Mission funds and accused a former ENC of siphoning off Rs 2,000 crore through his accountant. Additional allegations include the withdrawal of Rs 150 crore by the executive engineer in Betul without executing any work and the submission of fake completion certificates for over 7,000 projects. Samrite also demanded an audit of nearly 27,000 utilisation certificates submitted by engineers across the state as proof of completed projects under the Jal Jeevan Mission. He claimed that "all the certificates are fake," and were created to falsely justify fund disbursement. He claims that despite the magnitude of the allegations, the state govt did not escalate the matter beyond the departmental inquiry — and moreover had this inquired by a junior-level officer instead of transferring it to a different agency. Attempts to reach minister Sampatiya Uikey for comment were unsuccessful. Get the latest lifestyle updates on Times of India, along with Doctor's Day 2025 , messages and quotes!