After Rahi complained about the situation to his seniors, armed miscreants opened indiscriminate fire on him on March 26, leaving him critically injured. Subsequently, an inquiry committee was set up under Alka Tandon, Additional Director of Social Welfare Department (Meerut).

In the ongoing year alone, the inquiry found embezzlement to the tune of Rs 10 crore in various schemes, said department Director Narendra Kumar Chowdhary.

The team reports:

* Scholarships were given to students of 101 schools, of which there is no record available.

* No verification of people who are getting benefit of the elderly and widow pension schemes for the last five years.

* Money for marriage of girls given to people who did not have a daughter.

Chowdhary said he has sent the report to the state government for further action.

A PCS officer of 2004 batch, Rahi opened a can of worms when he ordered an inquiry into the allocation of funds over the last five years soon after he was posted in Muzaffar Nagar in November 2008.

On March 26 morning, when he was playing badminton, armed men pumped six bullets into his chest. He lost an eye but, miraculously, survived. He is recuperating in a Meerut hospital. “The attack was so well orchestrated that while three men shot at Singh from close range, three more were backing them up in case they missed the target,” said Alok Priyadarshi, the investigating officer in Muzaffar Nagar.

Police later found that the attack was executed by local criminals at the behest of some officials of the welfare department. Nine persons, including SP leader Mukesh Chaudhary and department assistant accountant Ashok Kashyap, were arrested.

Police said, Chaudhary, who was found involved in the students scholarship racket, was annoyed because Singh did not sanction scholarship for some students. Also, Singh had ordered a departmental inquiry into the alleged corruption and called for an explanation by Kashyap.

From his hospital bed, Rinku conveyed that during a survey of records, he found:

* Under the old-age pension scheme, money was taken for 62,447 people but distributed only to 47,707. Each beneficiary is entitled to Rs 3,600 annually.

* Rs 5.5 crore were distributed to 22,000 OBC students and Rs 11 crore to 9,000 students under the General category, all BPL families, but there was no record.

District Magistrate of  Muzaffar Nagar, Bhuvneesh Kumar said: “A couple of days before the attack, Rinku came to my office and informed me about the  irregularities. He planned to computerise the record so that the picture could become clear. But before he could begin the work, he was attacked.”

Kumar said an order had been passed to attach the property of prime accused Chaudhary, who amassed over Rs 7 crore in five years.

Every year, Muzaffar Nagar welfare department distributes over