ED attaches property worth Rs 12.31 crore of sacked naib tehsildar
The Enforcement Directorate (ED), Jalandhar, has provisionally attached immovable properties worth Rs 12.31 crore belonging to dismissed Naib Tehsildar Varinderpal Singh Dhoot, then Patwari Iqbal Singh and property dealers for alleged violation of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act.
They were reportedly involved in the illicit allotment of excess shares of ‘shamlat land’ of Seonk village to ineligible villagers and its subsequent sale dating back to 2016. Dhoot had been dismissed from service last month on the orders of Financial Commissioner Revenue Anurag Verma. Dismissal had come following another inquiry into the matter conducted by a former Additional District and Sessions Judge, who had found Dhoot guilty of violating the Punjab Village Common Lands Act.
The ED had initiated investigation on the basis of an FIR registered by the Vigilance Bureau, Punjab, under various Sections of the IPC and Prevention of Corruption Act. Dhoot and others, while preparing the Intkal, had deliberately wrongly allotted shares of shamlat land of Seonk village to the tune of 102 acres (having market value of approximately Rs 53 crore) in the name of some ineligible villagers.
Investigations had revealed that power of attorneys were obtained by the property dealers from the villagers to whom excess shares were allotted. On the basis of these power of attorneys, the property dealers in connivance with revenue officials sold the village common land to outside purchasers. The sale consideration was laundered through bank accounts of power of attorney holders and in cash, and was shared by the property dealers and revenue officials among themselves. The money thus laundered was used in purchase of immovable properties and personal expenditure.
This was for the second time that the ED has attached properties of Dhoot. His residential properties in Chandigarh and Hoshiarpur valued at 8.02 crore had been provisionally attached in June 2023, which was subsequently confirmed by Adjudicating Authority (PMLA) in its order on October 12, 2023. Investigations in this case are still in progress.
