Looking for former Punjab FM Manpreet Badal, vigilance team prevented from searching Chandigarh house

PTI

Chandigarh, October 5

A Punjab Vigilance Bureau team which has been looking for former finance minister Manpreet Singh Badal over alleged irregularities in the purchase of a property when he was in office was allegedly not allowed to carry out a search at a house in Chandigarh on Thursday, sources said.

Bureau officials said the residence belonged to a relative of Badal, who joined the BJP in January this year after quitting the Congress.

An advocate, claiming to represent the owner of the house, asked the team to bring a search warrant before carrying out the operation. The advocate refused to share the name of the house.

The Punjab vigilance team, which was accompanying the Chandigarh policemen, was carrying only an arrest warrant against Badal which was issued by a Bathinda court a few days back, they said.

The vigilance bureau has been conducting raids at various locations but Badal continues to remain at large. The raids had been conducted at locations in Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand and Rajasthan.

On Wednesday, a court in Punjab’s Bathinda rejected Badal bail plea. He was booked in connection with alleged irregularities in the purchase of a property in Bathinda.

The Punjab vigilance bureau had booked Badal and five others in connection with the case. An arrest warrant had been issued by the court in Bathinda against Badal last month.

Earlier, a lookout circular (LOC) was issued against the former minister.

The vigilance bureau launched an investigation into the matter based on former MLA Sarup Chand Singla’s 2021 complaint alleging irregularities in the purchase of the property at a prime location in Bathinda.

BJP leader Singla, who was earlier with the Shiromani Akali Dal, had alleged that Badal, as a minister in the previous Congress dispensation, had abused his position to convert two commercial plots into a residential plot for himself.

A case was registered under relevant sections of the Indian Penal Code, including sections 420 (cheating) and 468 (forgery), and also under provisions of the Prevention of Corruption Act.

During the probe, it was found that Badal abused his position to purchase two plots measuring 1,560 square yards in Model Town phase-1 Bathinda, thereby causing a financial loss of lakhs of rupees to the state exchequer, according to the vigilance bureau.

It was found that Badal allegedly colluded with the officials of the BDA and misled the general public during the bidding of plots in the year 2021. Allegedly, fake maps were uploaded to prevent public participation in the bidding process, the bureau had said.

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