Former Akali MLA, son booked for ‘land fraud’
Tribune News Service
Gurdaspur, December 18
Former SAD MLA Gurbachan Singh Babbehali and eleven others, including his son, have been booked by the Gurdsaspur police for cheating and criminal conspiracy.
SSP Swarandeep Singh said SHO Kulwant Singh had been asked to carry out further investigations.
Babbehali learnt this when he was leading a protest at the BDPO’s office against the rejection of nomination papers of Akali candidates for the forthcoming panchayat polls. The case pertains to the alleged wrongful registration of a land deal. Babbehali and his family have stakes in a plot of land on which a shopping mall has been recently constructed.
Moolak Singh, a known detractor of Babbehali, is the complainant. When the former legislator remained in power for 10 years from 2007 till 2017, Malook Singh tried his best to expose the alleged wrongdoing but Babbehali “managed to keep the deal under wraps”.
Others who have been booked are Babbehali’s son Amarjot Singh, former Gurdaspur Improvement Trust chairman Satish Kumar Thanewalia, Hira Singh, Dalip Singh Nambardar, Thora Ram, Roop Lal, Dalip Chand, Pushpinder Singh, Rajinder singh, Davinder Kumar and Jagmohan Singh.
The police have already nabbed Satish Kumar. A search is on to arrest the others. The case has been registered under Sections 420 (cheating), 120-B (criminal conspiracy), 403 (dishonest misappropriation of property), 404 (dishonest misappropriation of property possessed by a deceased person at the time of his death), 406 (criminal breach of trust), 465 (forgery), 467 (forgery of a document which is a valuable one), 468 (forgery for purpose of cheating), 471 (using as genuine a forged document) and 64 of the Indian Stamp Act, 1899.
Manjit Singh, an officer of the co-operative society, had conducted a probe on Moolak Singh’s complaint. The society has come into the picture as the disputed plot of land belonged to the society before its possession changed hands. The former MLA could not be contacted despite repeated attempts.
