Patiala IG asked to relook into Rs 250-crore Banur land grab case

Tribune News Service

Aman Sood

Patiala, June 4

The state government has taken a serious view of the police cancellation report filed in the court in the Banur land scam in which government land worth Rs 250 crore is being claimed by some private persons.

The news item highlighting the case appeared in The Tribune on June 2.

Will seek MC report: DC

We will seek a detailed report from the Banur Municipal Council on the issue. Aashika Jain, Mohali DC

The government has sought a detailed reply from the Banur Municipal Council on the issue, while DGP Gaurav Yadav has asked Patiala IG to relook into the case.

Sources say the Chief Minister’s Office has taken a serious view of the matter and asked for a detailed report on “U-turn by the police and the cancellation of FIR”.

“The complainant and his statement were not mentioned in the cancellation report. Rather, a junior official of the Banur MC recorded a statement raising no objection to the cancellation report,” said a senior IAS official privy to the developments.

Mohali DC Aashika Jain told The Tribune that she would look into the matter. “We will seek a detailed report from the Banur Municipal Council on the issue,” she said.

Meanwhile, the Local Government Department has ordered immediate action into the case. “You are requested to take immediate action as per rules/policy in the matter,” states an internal communiqué by the Local Government Department marked to the officers concerned.

The FIR was registered on March 9, 2019, under Sections 420, 467, 468 and 120-B of the IPC which stated that 88 bighas were transferred to some persons in connivance with Land and Revenue Department officials of Mohali.

The then Banur MC Executive Officer (Gurdeep Singh) was the complainant in the case. He retired in September 2020.

The accused had approached the then Patiala SSP, who marked an inquiry to a DSP-ranked official and later to the SP concerned. Documents suggest that a DSP and SP-ranked official gave a clean chit to the accused in September 2022 and recommended that the FIR be cancelled.

The probe, conducted by the then DSP (Headquarters), claims that the registries were found to be corrected by the Mohali Revenue Department. “Nothing was established if any cheating or any loss to government records ever happened,” read the report, recommending the cancellation of the FIR. The cancellation report is now pending with a Mohali court. It was filed by the then SHO, Banur, on October 1, 2022.