VB gives clean chit to Amarinder, others in Ludhiana City Centre scam

Tribune News Service

Ludhiana, August 19

The Vigilance Bureau on Saturday gave the clean chit to Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh and all 30 other accused in the multi-crore City Centre scam at Ludhiana.

The bureau filed the cancellation report in the court of Sessions Judge Gurbir Singh here.

It had registered the case in 2007 and filed a chargesheet in December 2007. But till today the charges were not framed against any of the accused.

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The then Ludhiana Improvement Trust Chairman Paramjit Singh Sibia had failed to get bail, was declared a proclaimed offender and had died.

The investigation was conducted by the Vigilance Bureau on the plea of Chetan Gupta.

The defence counsel said the copy of the closure report will be given to them on September 2, which has been fixed as next date by the court.

The bureau had registered a case in 2007 against 36 persons, including Amarinder, his son Raninder Singh and son-in-law Raminder Singh, for allegedly favouring a Delhi-based company 'Today Homes' in executing a real estate project by "violating" all norms during his tenure as chief minister in 2003.

The case was filed under various Sections of the IPC and the Prevention of Corruption Act.

Though over 100-page chargesheet was filed in the case, the charges were yet to be framed against the accused. Out of 36 accused, four had died, the defence counsel said.

Touted as one of the biggest projects in the state, the Ludhiana City centre project was rolled out in the year 2006.

To be spread over 25 acres of land, the project proposed to have shopping malls, 12 multiplexes, residential apartments, helipad and parking slot. — With agency inputs