Naharlagun Police have arrested three people accused of duping a road contractor with a forged government letter falsely certifying that his pending bill of more than Rs 17 crore under the Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana (PMGSY) had been cleared. The accused have been identified as Toluk Lombi, Dubi Ete and Rajesh Kumar Singh, according to Naharlagun Superintendent of Police Nyelam Nega.
The arrests come even as Arunachal Pradesh's Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) is separately investigating alleged irregularities in the on-ground implementation of PMGSY road projects in another part of the state, pointing to a wider set of concerns around the scheme's execution and payment processes in Arunachal Pradesh.
Background
PMGSY was launched on December 25, 2000, as a central government scheme to provide all-weather road connectivity to previously unconnected rural habitations across India. For most states, the scheme targets habitations with a population of 500 or more (per the 2001 census); for special category states like Arunachal Pradesh, that threshold is lowered to habitations of 250 or more people, in recognition of the state's sparse, dispersed hill population. Arunachal Pradesh has also been granted a special cluster-approach agreement under the scheme, allowing habitations within a 10-kilometre road distance in international border areas to be grouped together and treated as a single cluster for road-connectivity purposes.
Nationally, PMGSY has sanctioned more than 8.25 lakh km of rural roads, of which over 7.87 lakh km have been completed. In Arunachal Pradesh specifically, 91 roads spanning 720.75 km and 30 long-span bridges have been sanctioned for upgradation under the scheme, at an estimated cost of Rs 757.58 crore. Despite this scale of investment, the scheme's implementation in the state has long faced challenges including engineering constraints in difficult hill terrain, administrative delays in bill clearance, and limited local participation in project oversight — the same bureaucratic friction around delayed payments that appears to have created the opening for the fraud now under police investigation.
Key Details
According to police, the accused approached the contractor claiming that Rajesh Kumar Singh had high-level contacts in Delhi capable of facilitating the release of his long-pending PMGSY bill payment. On the strength of this claim, the accused allegedly demanded Rs 2.40 crore from the contractor as a fee for using these purported contacts to get the outstanding bill — worth more than Rs 17 crore — cleared.
The contractor was subsequently handed a letter that appeared to confirm his payment had been formally approved. However, when the contractor sought to verify the letter with the Chief Engineer of the Rural Works Department (RWD), the department found the document to be forged. The case was registered at Naharlagun Police Station under Sections 318(4) and 35 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), India's newly codified criminal law that replaced the Indian Penal Code, and the three accused have since been arrested.
Separately, in Changlang district, the state's Anti-Corruption Bureau is investigating alleged irregularities in PMGSY road projects executed under DPIU-I of the RWD's Changlang division. According to the ACB probe, two road projects were shown as completed in official records, and payments were released against them, despite on-ground work being incomplete and of poor quality. Those projects were being executed by contractor Sahabuddin Siddique of Duliajan, Assam, and remain unfinished beyond their stipulated completion period. While unrelated in terms of specific individuals to the Naharlagun case, the Changlang probe points to a broader pattern of concern around PMGSY payment verification and project oversight in the state.
At a Glance
| Case | Location | Alleged Issue | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Fake bill-clearance letter fraud | Naharlagun | Forged Rs 17-crore PMGSY payment clearance letter; Rs 2.40 crore demanded | 3 arrested, case registered under BNS Sections 318(4) & 35 |
| PMGSY project irregularities | Changlang (DPIU-I, RWD) | Roads marked complete and paid for despite incomplete, poor on-ground work | Under ACB investigation |
Local Impact
For contractors working on PMGSY projects in Arunachal Pradesh — many of whom operate on thin margins and depend on timely government bill clearance to fund ongoing and future work — this case illustrates a real vulnerability: long payment delays can create exactly the kind of desperation that fraudsters exploit by promising insider access to speed up disbursement. A contractor left waiting on a bill exceeding Rs 17 crore represents a significant cash-flow strain, one serious enough that the promise of a Delhi contact who could unlock the payment proved credible enough to act on.
More broadly, both this case and the parallel Changlang ACB probe raise questions for genuine PMGSY contractors and rural communities awaiting road connectivity about how reliably the scheme's payment and verification systems are functioning in Arunachal Pradesh. Delays and irregularities in fund release can directly stall road construction in remote, hard-to-access habitations that the scheme was specifically designed to reach — the same communities the special 250-person threshold and border-cluster provisions were created to serve.
What Happens Next
The three accused arrested by Naharlagun Police are expected to face prosecution under the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita provisions cited in the case. Investigators are likely to examine whether the forged clearance letter was created independently or with any insider assistance from within the Rural Works Department's bill-processing chain, given how closely the fake document mimicked an official clearance. Separately, the ACB's investigation into the Changlang PMGSY irregularities is ongoing, and its findings could prompt broader administrative scrutiny of how road-completion certification and payment release are verified across PMGSY projects in the state.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the Naharlagun PMGSY fraud case about?
Three people allegedly duped a contractor by providing a forged letter claiming his pending PMGSY bill of over Rs 17 crore had been cleared, after demanding Rs 2.40 crore for supposedly using high-level Delhi contacts to release the payment.
Who has been arrested?
Toluk Lombi, Dubi Ete and Rajesh Kumar Singh have been arrested by Naharlagun Police, according to Superintendent of Police Nyelam Nega.
How was the fraud discovered?
The contractor sought to verify the payment-clearance letter with the Chief Engineer of the Rural Works Department, who found the document to be forged.
What charges have been filed?
The case was registered at Naharlagun Police Station under Sections 318(4) and 35 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita.
What is PMGSY?
The Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana is a central government scheme launched in December 2000 to provide all-weather road connectivity to unconnected rural habitations, with lower population thresholds and special cluster provisions for border states like Arunachal Pradesh.
Is this case linked to the ACB investigation in Changlang?
The Naharlagun fraud case and the ACB's Changlang investigation involve different individuals and locations, but both point to concerns around PMGSY payment verification and project oversight in Arunachal Pradesh.
What is under investigation in Changlang district?
Arunachal Pradesh's Anti-Corruption Bureau is investigating claims that two PMGSY road projects under DPIU-I of the RWD's Changlang division were marked complete and paid for despite incomplete, poor-quality on-ground work.
Sources
Northeast News; Northeast Today; The Arunachal Times.