BAHAWALPUR, Oct 7: The Anti-Corruption Establishment registered a corruption case against an auditor and a cashier of the Gowara section of the Agriculture Research Station here on Thursday.

Auditor Muhammad Asif and cashier Iftikhar Javed were booked on the report of the Punjab AG, who had detected the alleged fraud of over Rs2.7 million during the scrutiny and verification process of accounts. However, the ACE investigation-cum-inquiry officer has omitted from the case the names of Gowara section botanist Muhammad Iqbal Saleem and finance department's DAO Naveed Ahmed Qureshi. Although, the AG had also mentioned their names in his report.

A source said that these two officials during investigation on Thursday had denied their involvement in the alleged fraud and claimed that the signatures were not theirs.

Cashier Iftikhar Javed was said to have absconded. The ACE has also not confirmed the arrest of any official. Meanwhile, ACE additional director Dr Mansoor Ahmed Bajwa ordered an inquiry against his own office's telephone operator for his alleged involvement in bribery. Abdul Rauf has been alleged to have taken Rs10,000 in bribe from an applicant for the preparation of his arms licence from the DCO office.

POLIO DRIVE: The three-day anti-polio campaign concluded here on Thursday. According to the EDO (Health), a total of about 500,000 children were administered polio drops by over 300 mobile and field teams.