Scam unearthed: Kashmiri exhibitions that never were

Top sources in state anti corruption body say that many other international exhibitions,in which the J-K handicrafts department supposedly participated,were also the under the scanner. These include exhibitions in Dubai,Venezuela and various South East Asian countries.

A spokesman of the SVO said that to promote the Kashmiri handicrafts like carpets,shawls,rugs,and chain stitch cloth and paper-mache internationally,the Managing Director of the J-K Handicrafts Corporation had proposed an international exhibition in US in January 2007. The proposal was approved by the Development Commissioner Handicrafts,Government of India.

The Vigilance Organisation,however,has found that though money was taken out from the state exchequer,no intentional exhibitions were held.

SVO officials said they have found that officials of J-K Handicrafts Corporation,and Handicrafts Corporation,New Delhi entered into criminal conspiracy with Vivek Duggal and others to dishonestly and fraudulently facilitate the engagement of Duggal to organize the participation of J&K Handicrafts Corporation in the exhibition in US and to defraud the exchequer by making false claims. The state exchequer lost Rs 24,12,562 in the scandal.

“Many officials dishonestly entertained and accepted the manipulated documents to confer undue benefit upon Duggal and themselves. The investigation has further found that J&K Handicrafts had not actually participated in the exhibition in which Iqbal Hussain Jan has been shown to have participated along with Duggal and goods were shown carried from J&K for display at the Home Textile Show New York.,” the SVO spokesman said. “The Vigilance sleuths found that J&K Handicrafts had neither selected nor dispatched any handicraft items. It was also found that Iqbal Hussain Jan,Artisan J&K Handicrafts Corporation was neither selected nor did he travel to New York to participate in the exhibition. The Cargo bill and Air tickets of Iqbal Hussain Jan also were found to be fake and produced to facilitate withdrawal of an amount of Rs. 24,12,562 from the public exchequer to confer undue benefit upon Duggal and themselves.”