ATP, two accomplices caught taking Rs 8L bribe

Tribune News Service

Jalandhar, March 22

Aiming to curb the menace of corruption in the state, the Punjab Vigilance Bureau (VB) arrested Ravi Pankaj Sharma, Assistant Town Planner (ATP), Jalandhar, and two of his accomplices, Kunal Kohli and Arvind Sharma, both private individuals, for allegedly accepting a bribe of Rs 8 lakh. The fourth suspect, Ashish Arora, in the case is yet to be nabbed. The VB has formed teams to arrest him.

The suspects were produced before a court, which sent them to five-day police remand.

Disclosing this here today, a spokesperson for the VB said Narinder Singh, director of Castle Heritage Company, a resident of Bath Kalan village, had constructed “Bath Castle”, a marriage palace, in 2005, after the approval of the building plan from the Municipal Corporation.

The complainant informed the VB that he received a letter in January from the ATP mentioning that the MC had received a complaint that the “Bath Castle” had been constructed illegally without the approval of the Jalandhar MC. So, the company was asked to submit the approved building plan and completion certificate of the palace within three days.

He said the director of Bath Castle, Narinder Singh, met the ATP, who showed him a copy of the complaint filed by Kunal Kohli, Ashish Arora and Arvind Sharma. The ATP allegedly advised the complainant that these persons would not withdraw the complaint without taking money and he would have to pay a sum of Rs 15 lakh to settle this matter.

The spokesperson said the ATP later arranged a meeting of Narinder Singh with Kunal Kohli, who sought Rs 20 lakh to withdraw the complaint.

The complainant informed the VB that the deal was settled for Rs 10 lakh and Sharma had already taken Rs 2 lakh from him in two installments and was demanding the remaining amount of Rs 8 lakh from him.

The spokesperson said after the preliminary investigation, the VB’s Flying Squad-1 team from Mohali laid a trap and arrested Sharma, along with the two suspects, while accepting a bribe of Rs 8 lakh. The ATP tried to flee from the spot, but the VB team overpowered him. The fourth suspect, Ashish Arora, is yet to be arrested.

A case has been registered under Section 7 of the Prevention of Corruption Act and Section 120-B of the IPC at the Flying Squad-1 police station, Vigilance Bureau, Mohali. Further investigations were on into the matter.

The spokesperson said after the arrests, the Vigilance team searched the house of Kunal Kohli. During the search, they recovered ATMs of several banks, two Press identification cards, five live cartridges and a revolver from his house. Apart from this, files with fake complaints to be made against several persons were also recovered.

Fourth suspect yet to be nabbed

A police spokesperson said after the preliminary investigation, the VB’s Flying Squad-1 team from Mohali laid a trap and arrested Ravi Pankaj Sharma, Assistant Town Planner (ATP), Jalandhar, along with two of his accomplices, Kunal Kohli and Arvind Sharma, while accepting a bribe of Rs 8 lakh. The ATP tried to flee from the spot, but the VB team overpowered him. The fourth suspect, Ashish Arora, is yet to be arrested.

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