Ex-PCS officers back Sandhu

Tribune News Service

Jalandhar, August 1
Coming in support of retired PCS officer Iqbal Singh Sandhu, who had been arrested by the Vigilance Bureau on Wednesday in connection with an alleged Rs 5.5 crore land acquisition scam, members of the Punjab Civil Services Retd Officers’ Association have asked the state government to review the matter.

President Dr Balbir S Dhol and general secretary Sohan Lal Bhumbak have said they had convened an emergency meeting of the executive committee of officials in which it had been unanimously decided to condemn Sandhu’s arrest by the VB.
The association members said the FIR was registered by Sandhu himself while in service but now his name had been included in the FIR for unknown reasons. “He has been arrested after more than 10 years of the registration of the FIR and after four years of his retirement. The prosecution sanction too had been denied against Sandhu twice by the competent authority. The government must review the matter and take appropriate action to withdraw the case and ensure the immediate release of Sandhu”, a release issued by Dhol and Bhumbak reads.
Sandhu was the Land Acquisition Officer for the Surya Enclave Extension scheme of the Jalandhar Improvement Trust. VB officials have alleged that he along with 15 others, including realtor Manjit Sharma and a numberdar, had created fake IDs of some beneficiaries wherein the land owners were missing or dead. New bank accounts were created in their names for the release of compensation. The VB suspects that Sandhu had connived with the accused to misappropriate the compensation amount.

Held 10 years after FIR registration
He has been held after more than 10 years of the FIR registration and after four years of his retirement. The govt must withdraw the case and ensure his release. — Former PCS Officers’ Assn