IAS officer’s wife still at large; vigilance bureau nabs retired officer in Multi-Crore Guava compensation scam
Kanwar Inder Singh/ royalpatiala.in News/ July 10,2023
The Punjab Vigilance Bureau (VB) on Monday nabbed retired Patwari Surinderpal Singh, who was posted at office of Land Acquisition Collector (LAC) Greater Mohali Area Development Authority (GMADA) in connection with multi-crore Guava trees compensation scam.
It is the 18th arrest in the scam wherein compensation worth crores was wrongfully claimed in lieu of land acquired by GMADA at village Bakarpur in SAS Nagar (Mohali) district.
Revealing the details here today, an official spokesperson of the VB said that the accused Surinderpal Singh was instrumental in reporting wrong information to pass on benefits of compensation to the accused beneficiaries.
He said that Horticulture Department had sent an assessment report declaring market value of the Guava plants to LAC GMADA for further disbursement of compensation but there were differences in the names and shares of some landowners as per the Revenue records. Instead of objecting the differences, the accused Patwari recommended to release of compensation payment in accordance with the report of Horticulture department.
On the basis of the accused Patwari’s note, the Spokesperson further said, Naib-Tehsildar forwarded the matter to the then LAC, who released the payments thereafter.
The accused Surinderpal Singh was nominated as an accused in the case and arrested today from Sri Muktsar Sahib.
The Punjab vigilance bureau (VB) claimed to have unearthed a scam wherein compensation was wrongfully obtained by the many during land acquisition by the Greater Mohali Area Development Authority (GMADA) in Bakarpur village, Mohali, from 2016 to 2020.
The entire scam was carried out in connivance with officials of state horticulture and revenue departments, as per the vigilance officials.
As per vigilance bureau FIR, Jasmin Kaur, the wife of Ferozepur deputy commissioner Rajesh Dhiman, is also a beneficiary of the multi-crore guava orchard compensation scam case. The court of additional district sessions judge had already rejected her anticipatory bail in June 2023 , but she is still at large.
IAS officer’s wife still at large; vigilance bureau nabs retired officer in Multi-Crore Guava compensation scam.The accused were booked under Sections 409, 420, 465, 466, 468, 471, 120-B of IPC and Section 13(1) (a), 13 (2) of the Prevention of Corruption Act at VB police station, Flying Squad -1, Punjab, at Mohali.
