All accused in Patiala land scam acquitted

Tribune News Service

Patiala, September 16

Ten years after the registration of an FIR by the state Vigilance Department over accusations of illegal sale of prime land in Patiala, a local court here has acquitted all accused including former Divisional Commissioner Patiala GS Grewal and IAS officer Vikas Garg. This comes after the Vigilance Bureau, Punjab, which had registered the FIR in 2012, failed to prove its case in court.

Sumesh Jain, advocate for the accused, said the case revolved around registration of a sale deed of 6,000 square yard prime land within the city. According to land records, it was in the name of Kiraninder Singh, a member of the royal family of Patiala.

Primarily, the property in question was in the name of Kiraninder Singh, a scion of the royal family of Patiala. According to his ‘sanad’, it fell in khasra number 104.

After he proceeded to sell the land, the state bureaucracy claimed its title. Later, after repeated demarcations, the government finally stated that the land belonged to the state and referred the matter to the Vigilance Department that registered an FIR against various individuals — purchasers of the property Yashpal Aggarwal, Davinder Sandhu and NP Singh along with power of attorney holders Jaswant Singh and Ravdeep Singh, Patwari Suresh Kumar, Kanungo Pritpal Singh and District Revenue Officer Rajbir Singh.

Royal family link

According to records, the 6,000 sq yard prime land was in the name of Kiraninder Singh, a member of the royal family of Patiala

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