Hindustan Times: Chandigarh: Wednesday, July 26, 2017.
Taking note
of the ‘shoddy’ investigation by Patiala police, the director general of police
(DGP) Suresh Arora has shifted probe of a land auction case to the Vigilance
Bureau (VB), in which a ‘whistle-blower’ has been made the accused.
The action
came after the DGP office showed dissatisfaction with the two-and-a-half-year
prolonged investigation, which concealed more instead of pin-pointing the
accused. The police have failed to produce a copy of the complaint on which the
FIR was registered, which was demanded by the alleged accused Amanjot Singh
using the Right to Information Act (RTI). This prompted the DGP office to shift
inquiry to the VB.
Police and
the complainant want to drop the case, while the accused (whistle-blower)
Amanjot doesn’t want it to be dropped until the police take responsibility of
the erring officers of tehsildar office and the department’s ‘shoddy probe.’ He
also wants them to take responsibility for selling a prime property at
throwaway prices in the court auction.
Amanjot was
booked on the statement of former Akali sarpanch Bhim Singh of Ageta village in
Nabha, who never lodged any FIR. Bhim Singh and police now want cancellation of
the case, but one of the accused, Amanjot Singh, doesn’t want it.
The case
relates to auction of a plot in August 19, 2013 on directions of the court.
While the Nabha civil court, in a recovery suit, had ordered the tehsildar to
auction 175 square yard of a total 492 square yard of the plot of M/s Banarsi
Dass Ram Chand; the officials sold out the entire plot for mere ₹17.2 lakh,
whereas the market value was more than ₹70 lakh at that point. Bidder Harjinder
Singh deposited ₹4.3 lakh as 25% of the auction amount with tehsildar Jasgir
Singh, who submitted a receipt to this effect.
Finding that
their entire plot was sold against the order of selling only 6.5 marla (175
yard), M/s Banarasi Dass approached the court and additional district judge Dr
Rajneesh set aside the auction on September 8, 2015, citing that the auction
was for mere 6.5 marla, whereas the entire plot was sold out by taking wrong
auction warrants.
On knowing
that the property has slipped from their hands and to recover the ‘bribe money’
paid to the tehsildar office staff, Harjinder lodged a complaint with the Nabha
DSP, stating that some property dealers and employees of the tehsildar’s office
had cheated him of ₹17.2 lakh in the auction of the plot, and issued a slip of
only ₹4.2 lakh, which is a forged slip, naming an outsourced employee Amanjot
Singh for this fraud.
When Amanjot,
who was not present at the auction, procured all documents using the RTI Act,
and acting as a whistle-blower, and lodged a parallel complaint of violation of
auction rules by the officials, nailing the involvement of Akali sarpanch Bhim
Singh in purchase of the property in the name of Harjinder Singh against the
rules of auction. It also proved that the auction was ‘fixed’ as only three
persons participated in it, and they were actually from one team.
Against the
accusation that he issued a wrong slip, Amanjot produced a slip procured under
the RTI, in which tehsildar Jagsir Singh had admitted that he took ₹4.25 lakh,
nullifying all allegations against Amanjot.
As police is
not nailing the accused, Amanjot approached the DGP, who ordered a fresh
inquiry. Following the orders, superintendent of police (SP) Vigilance Bureau,
Prithipal Singh, has started probe into the case.
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