CHANDIGARH, June 2 — The DIG, Patiala Range, Mr Sanjiv Gupta today denounced as "outrageous" and "mischievous" an allegation that he owns 100 acres of land in the area of the proposed Anandgarh scheme near Chandigarh.

Mr Gupta is one of the Punjab Government officers named in a writ petition filed in the Punjab and Haryana High Court by Mr Jasvir Singh Dhaliwal and Mr Gurdial Singh of Ropar district, assailing the notification for building the new township of Anandgarh.

In a strongly worded rejoinder, Mr Gupta stated that he did not own "even a single acre of land in any part of the country".

He said he had already served a legal notice for contempt of court and damages for defamation on the writ petitioners.

Another senior Punjab government officer, Mrs Gurbinder Kaur Chahal, IAS, has also denied that she or any of her family members own any land in the Anandgarh project area.

Mrs Chahal is at present Financial Commissioner, Punjab, Department of Forests and Wild Life Preservation.

In a fax message to The Tribune, she said she was surprised and pained to read the name "Gurbinder Kaur" in the list of IAS officers alleged to have purchased land in the area.