News: ACB Books 11 Over Rs 4.87 Crore Sohna Streetlight Project-12-09-2026
Eleven people have been booked by the Haryana State Vigilance and Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) over a Rs 4.87 crore streetlight project executed in Sohna in 2015, officials said on Saturday. They include a former chief engineer, a sub-divisional officer (SDO), two ex-secretaries of Sohna Municipal Council and three contractors.
An FIR filed Wednesday at the ACB police station in Gurugram follows a preliminary inquiry estimating a loss of at least Rs 80 lakh. Charges cover IPC sections 120B (criminal conspiracy), 406 (criminal breach of trust), 409 (criminal breach of trust by public servant) and 420 (cheating), plus Prevention of Corruption Act provisions.
A senior ACB official, citing the FIR, said poles and streetlights, among other items, were allegedly bought 25% above market rates. Officials and contractors allegedly worked together to sidestep procurement rules and allot work irregularly, dividing it among several agencies instead of one, some allegedly beyond licence limits, with different brands installed from those specified.
The job was due in three months, he said, yet the government got no completion records and payments were cleared early, while the project finished months late. Tender dates were not publicised, so only three firms bid despite extensions. The lights and poles went up along several major roads linking Sohna.
He said the ACB will study procurement records to establish how rates were set and cleared, and will check the decade-old records for further irregularities or beneficiaries.
Sohna Municipal Council officials said the lapses are nearly a decade old and almost all files are with the ACB, so they do not know what happened in 2015.
