Amritsar, December 11
In a setback to the Congress, Mr Sawinder Singh Kathunangal, MLA and chairman of the Punjab Food Agro Corporation (PFAC), along with five others, were arrested in an old land grab case here today following the rejection of his appeal by the sessions court.

Mr Kathunangal immediately resigned both as MLA as well as PFAC chairman.

Additional sessions judge Archana Puri confirmed the decision of the lower court, which awarded a three-year sentence and a fine of Rs 2,000 each to Mr Kathunangal, Balwinder Singh, Mangal Singh, Sukhwinder Singh, Devinder Singh and Dalip Singh on August 1.

Mr Kathunangal and his supporters were present at the time of the pronouncement.

The lower court had stated that the accused forged sale deeds after the death of Amar Singh and entered their names in revenue records as owners.

The complaint had been filed by Ms Parmjit Kaur of Pindi Saidan village in Ajnala.

She had stated that Amar Singh, her father, was the owner of the property, measuring 57 kanals, and he died on August 14, 1988.

The petitioner had alleged that the accused, in connivance with another person, trespassed on her property and got prepared forged and fabricated power of attorney, dated April 1, 1988, and registered sale deed the same year.

She had claimed that her father had not executed any power of attorney in favour of Joginder Singh.

She had said her father was an old and ailing person and did not understand his welfare and hence, there was no question of executing any power of attorney.

Mr Kathunangal, speaking to mediapersons soon after the decision, said he had resigned from both posts and submitted his resignations to parliamentary secretary Raj Kumar Verka, for handing it over to the Vidhan Sabha speaker and the chief minister.

He said he had signed the power of attorney as sarpanch in good faith and was not involved in land grab.

He said he would move the Punjab and Haryana High Court and hoped to get justice.

Mr Bikramjit Singh Majithia, in charge of the Majitha Assembly segment, said the chief minister should resign as he had given a clean chit to Mr Kathunangal during the second phase of his ‘vikas yatra’ recently.