Imphal, December 21: Senior IAS officer, L Gangte, who is currently the director general State Academy of Training, and Commissioner Labour & Cooperation, has been suspended from service by the President�s Rule government, on charge of complicity in a 1992 case while he was the director of the Food and Civil Supplies department of the government, according to a reliable source.

The 1992 scandal n question which erupted during the chief ministership of RK Ranbir, involved the mysterious disappearance of a large quantity of rice while they were being transported into the case.

An investigation into the scandal by the Central Bureau of Investigation, CBI, had been on a back runner for almost a decade.

The CBI swung into action after the imposition of President�s Rule in the state and subsequent award of blanket authority to it to investigate corruption cases in the state at will.

It may be recalled an underground organization had also taken up the case and ordered the transporters involved to return the disappeared rice or face punishment.

The source said the state government�s action on L Gangte, the director FCS at the time of the scandal, is on recommendation of the CBI.

It is learnt that many other heads are on the chopping block and there are even some who are likely to face more severe penalty.

The FCS has been a den of corruption for a long time now, and as late as last year, during the chief ministership of W Nipamacha, another scandal broke out in the department whereby transporters submitted transportation bills for the lifting of below poverty line, BPL, rice which never reached the state.

The government is out to take some exemplary cases as well as award exemplary punishment to those found guilty in them, to reinstall confidence amongst the public as well as to discourage corruption, the source said.

The source also revealed that a number of other equally atrocious scandals have been referred to CBI for investigation.

The CBI also may be asked to investigate the gifting away of more than Rs 50 lakh meant for centrally sponsored schemes to a particular underground organization in Chandel after, the latter kept district officials including the deputy commissioner of the district, the source said.

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