M A I N   N E W S

Ravneet Kaur booked
Ramanjeet Singh Sidhu
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, March 17
The Chandigarh Police today booked Ravneet Kaur (IAS), former managing director of Punjab State Industrial Corporation Development (PSIDC), along with its former chairman and four other senior officials, on charges of cheating, forgery and criminal conspiracy.

SHO of sector 17 police station inspector Jagir Singh said the case was registered following orders issued by chief judicial magistrate Y.S.K. Rathore. The accused had sold a plot to a company by concealing certain facts pertaining to the status of ownership of the property, which was later found to be mortgaged.

Complainant Rishipal Lakra, proprietor of Giya International, Harbasnpura village in Mandi Gobindgarh, had levelled allegations that Ravneet Kaur in connivance with chairman of PSIDC Om Prakash Saini, senior general manager J.S. Mann, general manager A.K Sood, deputy general manager A.K. Ahuja and executive director S.K. Sharma had sold him an industrial plot, which was already mortgaged to the State Bank of India by a company, Gwalior Ispat Private Limited, which possessed it earlier.

The SHO said that Lakra alleged in his complaint that he had purchased a plot measuring 1 kanal and 7 marlas from the PSIDC thorough an auction. The plot had earlier been sold to M/s Kaya Sohidated private limited, but was later resumed by the corporation. The PSIDC had then re-allotted the plot to M/s Gwalior Ispat Private limited through an auction on December 1, 2004.

Lakra purchased the said plot from PSIDC by way of a sale deed on January 12, 2005. He further mentioned in his complaint that he had spent about Rs 3 crore on the renovation of the plot and made it functional by installing machinery. Besides this, he claimed that he had paid PSIDC Rs 82.75 lakh as an instalment against the plot.

But later he was shocked when on September 3, 2005 he received a legal notice from a Delhi-based company, Aegis Consulting, (which was hired by the SBI) saying that Rs 2.35 crore were still outstanding against the said plot. Gwalior Ispat had raised a loan on the plot by mortgaging it to the Delhi-based branch of State Bank of India. The company had not followed the terms and conditions of the bank, following which, the loan was withdrawn by the bank. The bank claimed that, as the amount of Rs 2.35 crore was still outstanding against Gwalior Ispat, technically the plot belonged to it (the bank).

After receiving this information, Lakra filed a criminal suit against PSIDC officials. Lakra also checked the land records to find out the present status of the plot. He found out that the PSIDC had concealed certain facts pertaining to the status of the plot, said the police.