3 agri officers held for graft in Bathinda

Gurdeep Singh Mann

Tribune News Service

Bathinda, July 22

A Joint Director in the state Agriculture Department and two Agriculture Development Officers (ADOs) were arrested today on the charge of extorting Rs 4.5 lakh from six Bathinda- based pesticide dealers.

Joint Director Sarabjit Kandhari and ADOs Gurdial Singh (cash crop) and Vivek Shankar (plant protection) reached here on Wednesday on an official trip to inspect pesticides in shops and godowns.

“It was an official tour but no local official in the department was informed about it, which is against the norms. These officers stayed in a luxury hotel on the Barnala road and began calling the pesticide sellers for money,” said Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Swapan Sharma.

He said the police got a tip-off about the presence of the accused in the hotel and efforts were on to trace the pesticide dealers who had given money to the accused.

Kandhari was earlier booked in a similar case during his stint as Chief Agriculture Officer (CAO) in Gidderbaha (Muktsar). ADO Vivek is from Bihar and had joined the department in 2013 after doing his PhD and ADO Gurdial Singh joined in 2000.

“This is a deep-rooted conspiracy as being among the seniormost officers, Sarabjit was about to be promoted as Director. He had been warned of such a trap and everyone was asking him to remain alert,” said Kandhari’s father Garib Kandhari, while talking to this correspondent over the phone from Hoshiarpur.

The 85-year-old Das had earlier served in the Army and then worked as physical instructor in a government school.

Sarabjit has two sons. One is settled abroad and the younger one, Amanjot, is doing his Civil Engineering at Chandigarh. Kandhari’s family resides in Shivjot Enclave at Kharar.

Amanjot claimed that his father was acquitted in the bribery case registered during his stint in Muktsar.

A case under Section 384 (extortion) of the Indian Penal Code and Section 13 (2) of the Prevention of Corruption Act has been registered against the accused persons at the Civil Line police station.

Agriculture Minister justifies action

Bathinda: Agriculture Minister Tota Singh said, “The arrest of such an official is justified. I was not in favour of such corrupt persons but since he was the seniormost official he was given the post. He went against my orders that no official would conduct raids or check any agriculture-related material without taking the Chief Agriculture Officer, Deputy Commissioner or any other senior officer with him. — TNS

Congress wants Tota Singh to quit

chandigarh: The Punjab Congress on Friday demanded the Tota Singh’s resignation following the arrest of three officers of his department, including the Joint Director. PPCC chief spokesman Sunil Jakhar alleged that money was being collected from dealers to allow the sale of spurious pesticides. Jakhar said the state was dilly-dallying on filing a challan against former Agriculture Director Mangal Singh Sandhu in the Rs 33-crore pesticide scam. The Abohar MLA sought an inquiry by a sitting Judge or the CBI to probe the role of top officials and politicians in the scam in the Agriculture Department.  — TNS