Amarinder, others discharged in 2008 Amritsar Improvement Trust case

Tribune News Service

Mohali, July 27

Punjab Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh and 17 others, including former Punjab Vidhan Sabha Speaker Dr Kewal Krishan and two former Punjab ministers (all three now deceased), were on Friday discharged in a high-profile corruption and criminal case.

The case was registered by the Punjab Vigilance Bureau (VB) on the recommendation of the Punjab Vidhan Sabha, alleging scam in granting exemption for transferring 32.1 acre prime land of Amritsar Improvement Trust (AIT) to a private developer.

Mohali Special Judge Jaswinder Singh ordered the discharge of the persons named as accused in the case while accepting the closure report filed by the VB.

Amarinder, who along with others named in the case was present in the court, welcomed the verdict and termed it as “victory of truth”. “It was a political vendetta as the VB had acted on the directions of its then political masters,” commented the CM, while refusing to initiate any action against the VB officers who were involved in the case. Being Home Minister of the state Amarinder is the current head of the VB.

The VB had in October 2016 filed a cancellation report before the Special Court in Mohali, which had been trying the case since 2008. The VB had also sought discharge of all the accused in the case. The VB had submitted that “neither any mala fide nor any offence had been committed. Also, no incriminating evidence to prove the charges whatsoever levelled had come to fore during the fresh investigation of the case”.