Chandigarh, September 17
Was it the apprehension that DGP Sarabdeep Singh Virk would destroy diaries and other documents he had in his brief case that acted as a catalyst for his arrest?

Yes, admit Vigilance Bureau officials holding that for the past some weeks, he had been carrying not only his diaries of 2000 and 2002 but also a bunch of keys, counterfoils of cheque and cash deposit receipts of his various bank accounts in his brief case, possession of which was denied to him by a Mohali court today.

The Vigilance Bureau has now 17 keys but does not know whether they are of some lockers or of almirahs in which other “incrimating documents or material” may have been stashed.

The bureau, say sources, has been successful in deciphering some portions of diaries relating to 20-odd bank accounts in various banks, both in Chandigarh and New Delhi, which are reportedly in the name of Virk, his wife Jaswinder, son Pradeep, daughter Jasleen and brother Rajdeep Singh besides a company, Green Field Resorts.

Vigilance is also keen to look for remaining diaries covering the years 2001, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006 and 2007.The chances of these being already destroyed cannot be ruled out, sources in the department add.

Investigators are, however, baffled by the abbreviations used by Virk in his diaries allegedly about his contacts and properties other than those mentioned in the statement of property submitted to the state annually. While Vigilance Bureau could draw inferences on the basis of cross references and investigations held so far about the expanded form of some of the abbreviations, family members and banks, it still remains clueless about 50 per cent of the 37 abbreviations used in the two diaries.

Similarly, the Vigilance Bureau is still to find exact details of other bank accounts of Virk and his family members as mentioned in the diaries. Some of these accounts are in HDFC Bank in Sector 8 in Chandigarh, besides three in Punjab and Sind Bank in Sector 17-C, one in Punjab National Bank in Sector 20-C, three in Bank of Punjab and one each in Bank of Baroda and the State Bank of India.

Equally baffling for the Vigilance Bureau has been the recovery of draft of medical certificate from a doctor of Mumbai, a letterhead of the doctor and a few other documents.

Investigations so far, claim sources in the bureau, have again enough of corroborating evidence of “properties allegedly owned by DGP Virk and his family members” which were not reflected in the property statements given to the state on yearly basis.

For example, the property statement of 1997 lists five properties, including inherited agricultural land measuring 26 acres in Muktsar, two flats - 505 and 506 - in Nehru Place in New Delhi, a plot in Pune and a flat in Sector 39 in Chandigarh. The Pune plot was sold in 1997.

In the property statement of 2006, the additional properties he has mentioned are 27.4 acres of agricultural land in Bakarpur and 105 acres in Dayalpur in Patiala. Both these properties were purchased from the proceeds of the sale of his inherited property in Muktsar that he had reportedly intimated to the State on January 1, 2002. Besides, he also purchased a bungalow (two kanals) in Sector 27 (by taking a loan of Rs 25 lakh from Punjab National Bank and a loan of Rs 5 lakh from his GP fund) and 58 kanals of agricultural land in Shaikhan Majra village.

Interestingly, his income from Dayalpur property was Rs 1.5 lakh in 2005.

The properties, suspect Vigilance Bureau officials, that find no mention in his property returns, include those in Kishengarh (entries in diaries show expenditure on raising fencing and other civil works), Kurali, Zirakpur (which he had allegedly purchased from Avinash Singh Grewal by making a payment of Rs 6 lakh through a Times Bank cheque and allegedly paid a balance Rs 4.8 lakh in cash), besides those in Kurali, Navyug, GD Towers, Sector 72 (mohali) besides his investments with TRR.