Punjab Vigilance Bureau nabs accused in JIT fraud case

Jalandhar, January 28

The Punjab Vigilance Bureau (VB) on Saturday arrested an accused, Gurdeep Singh, who had been absconding for about three years and five months in an embezzlement case pertaining to the land of Jalandhar Improvement Trust (JIT). In this case, a total of 12 accused have been arrested so far and the search for the rest is going on.

A spokesperson for the VB said that 94.97 acres was acquired by the JIT in Surya Enclave extension, but at the time of paying the compensation, many accused had embezzled the compensation amount to the tune of Rs 5,49,18,523 in the names of fake persons and by preparing forged documents of the Improvement Trust in connivance with the JIT officials.

In this regard an FIR No. 244 was lodged on October 29, 2013, under Sections 409, 419, 420, 465, 467, 468, 201, 120B of the IPC and Sections 7, 13 of the Prevention of Corruption Act at the New Baradari police station, which was later transferred to the VB for further investigation.

The spokesperson further said in this case the accused, Gobind Ram, embezzled an amount of Rs 2,12,76,211 with the connivance of the employees of the Improvement Trust by preparing fake documents and out of this amount, Rs 7 lakh was received by the above said accused Gurdeep Singh through cheques from accused Gobind Ram.

The spokesman further informed that in this case accused Manjit Sharma, Sukhdev Singh Patwari, Prem Prakash, lawyer Mohit Bhardwaj, lawyer Deepak Sadana, Amandeep Singh, Kulwant Singh, Jatinder Kumar Sharma, Tarlok Singh, Sandeep Sharma and Surinder Kumar Cashier had already been arrested. To arrest the rest of the absconding accused, the VB is conducting raids at their residences and other places, who would also be arrested soon, he added. — TNS

Land acquisition relief embezzled

A spokesperson of the VB said 94.97 acres was acquired by the JIT in Surya Enclave extension, but at the time of paying the compensation, many accused had embezzled the compensation amount to the tune of Rs 5,49,18,523 in connivance with officials. A total of 12 accused have been arrested so far and the search for the rest is going on.