Clerk among two arrested; more heads likely to roll

Tribune News Service

Amritsar, July 29

With the arrest of two persons in the alleged bungling in fees during registration of properties in the Attari sub-tehsil, many heads may roll during the probe.

The Amritsar rural police have recently arrested a registry clerk, Harpreet Singh, of Bhaini Rajputa village and a computer operator, Jatinder Singh, of Naraingarh (Chheharta) posted at the Attari sub-tehsil here. They were booked under Sections 420, 409, 465, 467, 468, 471, 506, 201 and 120-B of the IPC. During the initial probe, the district administration has found embezzlement of around Rs 2.20 lakh in three properties following which a complaint was filed with the Gharinda police station here.

Later, a probe was marked to Subdivisional Magistrate Rajesh Sharma, which indicated that the accused had bungled around Rs 70 lakh during past couple of years. The figure could very well cross over several crores if the authorities scrutinise the records of the past decade.

Deputy Commissioner Varun Roojam has now handed over the investigations to district revenue officer Jashanjit Singh, who has been asked to scrutinise the record in order to know the extent of embezzlement. Naib Tehsildar Amarjit unclog, who is the complainant in the case registered with Gharinda police station on July 26, said the accused had misplaced the entire revenue record due to which the authorities were finding it difficult to probe the case.

He said they were now looking into the land records from patwaris of the attari sub-tehsil in order to know how much government fees was misappropriated by the accused.

Former BJP district president pointed out that he had taken up the matter with former deputy commissioner with sufficient proofs in 2010 but in vain. He had also raised a question mark on the auditors who had audited the records of the sub-tehsil. He also alleged that the accused was posted on the same post for past 15 years which suggested that there was some political shelter or protection by seniors behind his stay on the same post.