The Vigilance Bureau (VB) has registered a case against six Water Supply and Sanitation (WSS) Department officials in Faridkot and three private contractors for allegedly embezzling Rs 24.34 lakh from funds allocated for urban water supply maintenance.The accused officials are Executive Engineer Jaswinder Singh, Sub-Divisional Engineer Sandeep Singh, Junior Engineer Parwinder Singh, Senior Assistants Jasmit Singh and Tara Singh and data entry operator Satnam Singh. The contractors booked include Karnail Singh, Hardeep Singh and Jasvir Singh.The FIR invokes provisions of the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988, and the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) relating to criminal conspiracy, forgery and breach of trust. No arrests have been made so far.According to the FIR, a departmental inquiry found that fake documents and bills were allegedly prepared for work that was never executed. Of the Rs 73.56 lakh released by the state government on October 23, 2024, for the town’s water supply scheme, Rs 24.34 lakh was allegedly misappropriated.A detailed probe based on reports submitted by Superintending Engineer Narinder Singh flagged alleged procedural violations on October 25, 2024. Sandeep Singh allegedly floated quotations for seven works estimated at Rs 49,900 each without the required demand reports, Junior Engineer proposals or estimates from the drawing branch.The FIR alleges that XEN Jaswinder Singh approved the works without mandatory comparative statements and reconciliation. The estimates were subsequently inflated to nearly Rs 5 lakh each. Enhancement approvals bearing allegedly forged signatures of then Superintending Engineer Sukhpinder Singh were issued through Senior Assistant Jasmit Singh.The works were shown as having started and been completed over the same weekend. Bills were submitted without contractors’ signatures or dispatch numbers, while JE Parwinder Singh allegedly entered false measurements without inspecting the sites. Data Entry Operator Satnam Singh and Senior Assistant Tara Singh allegedly cleared the bills despite procedural lapses. Payments were transferred to the contractors’ bank accounts by October 29.During verification, contractors Hardeep Singh and Karnail Singh reportedly confirmed that no work had been carried out at the sites.DSP Vinod Kumar of the VB’s Faridkot unit is investigating the case following directions from bureau headquarters and range officials.