Villager who staked Rs 2 crore on top post ‘goes on long leave’

Former Sarpanch Atma Singh of Hardorwal Kalan village, who had placed a final bid of Rs 2 crore to get elected unanimously in the panchayat poll, “has proceeded on long leave”.

Ever since the story of auction got highlighted, Atma has not been seen in the village. His family members claimed that he would certainly return but for now “he has gone on long leave”. One of his relatives stated that he was away to an undisclosed destination.

Sources said Atma had gone into hiding ever since the Leader of Opposition Partap Singh Bajwa called for a Vigilance probe against him.

On the one hand, the Opposition had been putting pressure on cops to arrest Atma, who owes allegiance to the BJP, and on the other, senior officers said they had no tangible evidence to nail him.

Gurdaspur Deputy Commissioner Uma Shankar Gupta said the administration had no power to take action till Atma files his nomination and turns out to be the only candidate from his village. “Till then, the administration cannot take action,” said the DC.

The nominations ended today and as expected Atma did not file his papers.

The villagers said Atma thought that the BJP leaders would come to his “rescue in his hour of need”. However, that never happened, thus he decided to leave the village.

Wassan Singh, father of Atma, refused to comment.

A neighbour said Atma wanted the post because it had become a prestige issue for his family. “His family wants to initiate developmental works. There’s nothing wrong in it. If a person wants to spend money from his pocket on improving infrastructure, what is wrong in that? The media is creating a controversy where none exists,” he said.

A few days ago, Atma, Jaswinder Singh and Nirbhair Singh had competed for the post of sarpanch with the former’s bid of Rs 2 crore being the highest. This unconventional approach was seen as a way to sidestep traditional polling method.

Defending his actions, Atma had said, “I see no wrong in what I have done. I had promised to deposit the money in a common account of the village. It would have been used for the development works under the guidance of a committee comprising fellow villagers.”