Land scam: ED attaches assets worth Rs37 cr

Deepkamal Kaur

Tribune News Service

Jalandhar, September 19

Investigating into the Hoshiarpur land scam, the Enforcement Directorate (ED), Jalandhar zonal office, issued a provisional attachment order for 60 properties worth nearly Rs 37 crore belonging to five accused under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).

The Vigilance Bureau (VB) had registered the case on February 10, 2017, which had then been taken up by the ED. While the VB has been extremely slow and is yet to file a chargesheet in the one-and-a-half-year-old case, the ED has gone ahead with attaching 60 properties belonging to the accused.

The properties, including 54 vacant lands, three business premises and three residential houses, belonged to three Hoshiarpur-based Akali leaders — councillor Harpinder Singh Gill, district cooperative bank chairman Satwinderpal S Dhatt, market committee chairman Avtar S Johal and Hoshiarpur residents Prateek Gupta and Jaswinder Pal Singh.

The ED found that the five accused reportedly got undue and excess compensation to the tune of Rs 37 crore. Out of the compensation amount received, the accused utilised some part for repayment of their loans and the rest of the funds were diverted to their business concerns, which were further utilised for repayment to creditors and other business expenses.

Sale-purchase of land by private persons in the notified area was allowed, which otherwise was prohibited after the issuance of the notification by the government for land acquisition. The private parties named in the FIR were paid undue and excess compensation by the competent authority for land acquisition on residential rates, despite the fact that the type of land mentioned in the notifications was agricultural.

The ED has not yet taken any step against PCS officer and then Hoshiarpur SDM Anand Sagar Sharma and the government staff. The ED’s inquiry team, which includes Deputy Director Rahul Sohu and Assistant Director Ajai Singh, continues to make further investigations in the case.