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Two officers of Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Limited allegedly siphoned off over Rs 5 crore from the coffers of the oil major by issuing over 3,000 fictitious petty cash vouchers to private contractors. The CBI has taken over investigation into the scam by registering an FIR against the officers posted in Ranchi on the request of the vigilance department of HPCL.

Besides the two officers, the CBI has also named eight construction firms in the case registered under charges of alleged criminal conspiracy, cheating and corruption. It is alleged that senior accounts officer Rajesh Singh and chief administrative superintendent Avijit Chakroborty entered into a criminal conspiracy and made payment to these firms using PX vouchers, used for making small payments during emergency purposes.

Singh and Chakroborty allegedly abused their official position and made fraudulent payment by creating 3,178 fictitious PX vouchers making payments to the tune of Rs 5.57 crore to the eight contractors working with HPCL, the FIR alleged.