Chandigarh May 3 (IANS) The Punjab Vigilance Bureau has exposed a scam by arresting seven people, including a revenue official, on charges of receiving compensations during acquisition of land on forged documents in Greater Mohali Area Development Authority (GMADA) from 2016 to 2020.
A spokesperson for the Vigilance Bureau said the main accused has been identified as Bhupinder Singh, Mukesh Jindal, Shaman Jindal, Mukesh Jindal, Praveen Lata, Vishal Bhandari, Sukhdev Singh, Binder Singh and Bachitar Singh.
He said officials of the Horticultural Department, namely Jaspreet Singh, Vaishali, Dinesh Kumar, Rashmi Arora, Anil Arora and Vishal Bhandari are yet to be arrested.
The spokesperson said during the investigation of a complaint, the Vigilance Bureau found that in 2016 the GMADA published notices in SAS Nagar for acquisition of land pertaining to various villages and issued notifications under Section 4 in 2017 and under Section 19 in 2020.
Property dealer Bhupinder Singh, in connivance with officials and employees of GMADA, the Revenue and Horticulture Departments, along with his colleagues Anil Jindal, Mukesh Jindal and Vikas Bhandari started planting guava orchards on the agricultural land by getting land on general power of attorneys.
The spokesperson said during the probe it was found that the main accused, Bhupinder Singh, has taken compensation of around Rs 24 crore for guava plantations for himself and his family members.
Similarly, Mukesh Jindal has defrauded the government by taking compensation of about Rs 20 crore.
Many other persons have also taken compensation from the government illegally by showing guava orchards in their land.
The Vigilance Bureau said the other accused would be arrested soon.
Phogat had come to Goa on August 22 and was staying at a hotel in Anjuna. She felt uneasy that night and the next morning, she was taken to St. Anthony hospital in Anjuna where she was declared brought dead.
Besides, the VB has also initiated proceedings in the court against three accused -- R.K. Singla, Deputy Director with the food and civil supplies, and Pankaj Kumar and Inderjit Singh, both personal assistants of former food and civil supplies minister Ashu -- to declare them as proclaimed offenders.
On November 11, the Supreme Court had asked the Centre to file an affidavit to inform it about the number of medical students who were pursuing their studies in Ukraine who have been accommodated in other countries. On Tuesday, a bench of Justices Surya Kant and Vikram Nath scheduled the petition filed by Archita and others for further hearing on November 29.
Reacting to a submission made to the UT Administrator by the Haryana Assembly Speaker, the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) leader in a letter to the Administrator said Chandigarh was an inalienable part of Punjab and the Haryana government could not apply for a land swap without taking the consent of the parent state.
Director General of Police Punjab Gaurav Yadav identified the arrested accused as Ramjan Khan, alias Raj Hooda. He said police teams have also arrested his two accomplices -- Happy Mehla (19) and Sahil Mehla (18), both resident of Hanumangarh in Rajasthan.
In Cachar, three people were arrested with 1.80 lakh tablets used for intoxication on Sunday in the Lakhipur area in the district. Police informed that the international market value of seized tablets is around Rs 50 crore. The accused were identified as Abdul Saeed, Ibazur Rahman and Sameer Alam, all residents of the Cachar district.
