2 BDPOs among 12 booked in fraud case

Tribune News Service

Nikhil Bhardwaj

Ludhiana, September 16

The Khanna police yesterday registered a case against 12 persons, including two block development and panchayat officers (BDPOs), on the charges of fraud, forgery and criminal conspiracy.

The suspects in connivance with each other had initiated a fake verification of an elderly man of Rasulra village.

They have been identified as the then BDPO of the Khanna block Dhanwant Singh Randhawa; the then secretary of the Rasulra gram panchayat Gurmeet Singh, now posted as the BDPO; Gurdeep Singh, village sarpanch; former sarpanch Pal Singh; panch Pal Singh; panch Balvir Singh; Kulwinder Singh, block samiti member; panch Pardeep Singh; panch Jasvir Singh and nambardars Charan Singh, Sher Singh and Rajinder Singh.

It is learnt that in the case related to fake verification of an elderly person from Rasulra village, Khanna Sub-Divisional Magistrate (SDM) Swati, after conducting an inquiry, had also written a letter to the SSP on September 1 this month for taking immediate legal action. The SDM, in the letter, clearly mentioned that the suspects were found guilty in the report and should face action under relevant sections of the IPC.

Following this, complainant Jasvir Singh of Rasulra village, along with social worker Gurdeep Singh Kaali, met Khanna SSP Amneet Kondal on September 5, who marked a probe to the SP (Investigation) Pragya Jain.

During the panchayat elections in 2018 at Rasulra village, nomination papers of Jasvir Singh, who was contesting as a sarpanch candidate, were rejected on false grounds. For the past over four years, the victim had been visiting government offices to seek action against those involved in fake verification of his grandfather.

Jasvir said the suspects verified his grandfather Ajmer Singh as son of Gulli but in reality, his grandfather’s identity was Ajmer Singh, son of Inder Singh. Not only the SDM but also the report of the tehsildar decided the inquiry in our favour,” he asserted.

By doing fake verification, his nomination papers as sarpanch in the panchayat poll were rejected. Even the Panchayat Department at the behest of the suspects then claimed that he (the complainant) had owed some dues towards the department. But later during the inquiry, nothing of that sort was established.