ROHTAK, Dec 6 — The Special Judge, Mr Shiva Sharma, has rejected the pre-arrest bail application of Didar Singh Tehsildar (Retd), who is an accused along with former Revenue Minister Anand Singh Dangi, in the alleged bogus allotment of land meant for rehabilitation.

A criminal case under Sections 218/406/409/418/468/471/120-B of the IPC and Section 13(1) of the Prevention of Corruption Act was registered against Didar Singh, Anand Singh Dangi and others by the State Vigilance Bureau at Ambala on April 8 last.

Didar Singh, who resides at Pakhowal village in Hoshiarpur district (Punjab) had sought pre-arrest bail, maintaining that he was posted as Tehsildar and Assistant Registrar (Headquarters) in the Rehabilitation Department at Chandigarh and was accused of having issued bogus allotment orders in favour of Ram Saran, Sawan Ram and Jiwan Dass.

The bail had been sought on the ground that the petitioner, who had retired in 1996, was ‘falsely’ implicated and that no incriminating evidence was seized from him. He claimed that he was suffering from a heart problem for the past two years and his custodial interrogation was not required as the entire records were already with the state government.

According to the FIR, 92 files of land allotted to displaced persons were taken into possession by the police. It was found that in nine files pertaining to the districts of Sonepat and Rohtak, the allottees or their heirs had already taken their claims and no cut was imposed. But the petitioner had issued allotment orders without verification in cases of Attar Chand, Ram Kumar, both residents of Madina village, and in two other cases of Jiwan Dass and Sawan Ram in which Jai Narain was attorney. They were residents of the village of then Revenue Minister Anand Singh Dangi.

Didar Singh is alleged to have issued different allotment orders on various dates in favour of Attar Chand and Jiwan Dass in connivance with the allottees/legal heirs/attorney.

In case of Bihari Lal, allegedly in connivance with his attorney, petitioner Didar Singh had himself prepared bogus claim papers and issued allotment orders, the FIR said. The petitioner, it is alleged, had prepared false record in connivance with the allottee or their legal heirs and attorneys and had caused wrongful gain to those persons and huge loss to the state exchequer by misusing his official position.

Didar Singh had claimed that he had discharged his official duty in good faith and had not derived any benefit from the allottees. He said that he was a retired government servant and suffering from heart-ailment and there was no question of his fleeing from the law or tampering with evidence.

The Special Judge, however, said “It is not the case of the petitioner that he had issued allotment orders correctly and after verification of the record. The petitioner has not bothered to touch this plea even at a tangent, meaning thereby that he does not dispute the correctness of the allegations as mentioned in the FIR.”

Even in one case, the Judge said, the petitioner had himself prepared bogus record for issuance of allotment order in favour of Bihari Lal. By processing the cases of applicants without verification and forwarding the same to headquarters for allotment of land, the petitioner had deliberately done dis-service to the state, the Judge said.

That being so, the petitioner cannot be allowed to urge with a show of justification that he had discharged his official duty diligently and sincerely. As a matter of fact, the elements of due diligence and good faith were altogether absent in this case.