Pathankot land scam: Vigilance Bureau registers FIR; 2 arrested

Vishav Bharti

Chandigarh, August 10

Following The Tribune expose on the Pathankot land scam, the Vigilance Bureau has registered an FIR and arrested two people.

The FIR has been registered under Sections 409 (criminal breach of trust by public servant), 420 (fraud) and 120-B (criminal conspiracy) of the IPC and the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988, at the Vigilance Bureau police station, Amritsar.

The eight accused who have been named in the FIR are Kuldeep Singh, retired DDPO, and seven beneficiaries of the scam, Vina Parmar, Inderdeep Kaur, Bharti Banta, Tarsem Rani, Balwinder Kaur, Manjit Kaur and Parveen Kumari.

Sources in the Vigilance Bureau said two arrests had been made in the case.

The Tribune blew the lid off the scam on July 19 in a news report, ‘On retirement eve, ADC gives village’s 100 acres to individuals’, highlighting how a DDPO, who was holding the additional charge as ADC, had ordered to restore around 100 acres of panchayat land of Gol village of Narot Jaimal Singh in Pathankot district to some individuals a day before his retirement.

Taking cognisance of the report, Chief Secretary Anurag Verma had termed the matter “very serious” and ordered the Rural Development and Panchayats Department to complete a probe by July 31. Following that he had ordered to register an FIR against the DDPO.