Land scam accused return Rs 6.37 crore to Forest Department

Ropar, April 2

Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) member Daljit Singh Bhinder and his brother Amrinder Singh Bhinder, who allegedly duped the Punjab State Forest Development Corporation by selling 54 acres to it at inflated rates leading to a loss of Rs 5 crore to the state exchequer, have returned the amount received against the sale of the land.

The duo had been granted regular bail by the Punjab and Haryana High Court recently. The High Court was informed that on March 14, the accused paid back the entire amount of Rs 6.37 crore to the Forest Department.

A case at Nurpur Bedi police station was registered against the accused on June 28 last year under Sections 420, 465, 467, 468 and 471 of the IPC.

Sarbat Da Bhala Trust had alleged that the accused had transferred the land of the trust in their name on fake documents.

The Punjab State Forest Development Corporation had floated a tender on May 29, 2019, to buy land for compensatory afforestation. Bhinder and his brother Amarinder offered their land at Rs 9,90,000 per acre at Karura village near Nurpur Bedi. Interestingly, the collector rate of the land in the area was fixed at a mere Rs 90,000 per acre. Still, officials of the department agreed to purchase 54 acres and 8 marla from the duo at the price demanded by them.

Sarbat Da Bhala Trust president Jassa Singh Sandhu also lodged a complaint claiming that SP Singh Oberoi, philanthropist and managing trustee of the trust, intended to set up a welfare project for cancer patients at Nurpur Bedi for which the trust had bought 48 acres at Karura village.

Sandhu alleged that Bhinder had exchanged a piece of land located at some unidentified location with the land owned by the trust in his name on forged documents and further sold it to the Forest Department.

In August, the Vigilance Bureau (VB) arrested naib tehsildar Raghbir Singh, posted at Anandpur Sahib, in the case while four Indian Forest Service (IFS) officers — Amit Mishra, Amit Chauhan, Geetanjali and Yugog Raj Rathore — were chargesheeted. A case was filed with the Anandpur Sahib court for recovering the sale amount and cancelling the land registries.

Collector rate Rs 90,000 per acre

The Punjab State Forest Development Corporation had floated a tender to buy land for compensatory afforestation. Daljit Singh Bhinder and his brother Amrinder Singh offered their land at Rs 9,90,000 per acre at Karura village. The collector rate of the land was fixed at a mere Rs 90,000 per acre.