FIR, probe not in consonance: Ludhiana court

Jalandhar, April 8

While rejecting the closure report into the Hoshiarpur land scam filed by the Punjab Vigilance Bureau on Tuesday, Additional and Sessions Judge of Ludhiana Dr Ajit Atri listed out 13 points where the investigation fell short of proper standard and procedures.

The multi-crore scam dates back to 2016 in which the land acquisition officials had benefitted some bigwigs. The copy of the orders uploaded today read: “The perusal of the allegations made in the FIR and the investigation conducted in the FIR are not in consonance with each other. While filing the cancellation report, the investigating agency has mainly relied upon the reply filed by accused Anand Sagar Sharma (PCS officer and then Hoshiarpur SDM) and the report of the local commissioner. However, there are specific allegations of criminal conspiracy among the accused causing loss to the government. The mention that letter was written to the ministry but no officer was appointed to assist the investigation team cannot be the ground to leave the matter un-investigated. The investigation conducted so far falls short of the standard for the complete investigation. The investigation has not been conducted on material aspects.”

The court also listed out 13 points on which the probe was required. These include queries regarding calculation of relief and whether proper procedure for change in the nature of land had been followed for issuance of variation certificates.

The matter had been highlighted by RTI activist Rajiv Vashisht. In June 2016, then Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal had ordered a vigilance probe to IG Shive Kumar Verma. An FIR into the matter was lodged in February 2017 as it had been found that the Akali leaders in connivance with the officials had purchased land in the names of their families from farmers at relatively low prices and then sold it to the government on higher rates. —