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Jalandhar priest moves court to get ‘seized’ money back from Punjab Police
The court has issued a notice to Punjab Police seeking a detailed report in the matter. The court will hear the case on July 6.
Father Anthony Madassary, the Jalandhar-based priest who has accused the Khanna police of misappropriating ₹6.6 crore after a raid at his house in Partapura on April 29, filed an application in district and sessions court, Mohali, on Wednesday to get the money back.
Though the priest claimed that the police recovered Rs16.65 crore from his house but showed it to be ₹9.66 crore, while misappropriating the remaining amount, the special investigation team (SIT) probing the case found that ₹14.5 crore was recovered from his house.
The SIT recovered around ₹4.5 crore after the arrest of two assistant sub-inspectors (ASIs) Rajpreet Singh and Joginder Singh from Kochi, Kerala.
Later, Father Anthony also claimed that around ₹5.78 crore was siphoned off by the Khanna police and not ₹6.6 crore as claimed earlier.
Anthony’s counsel Hukam Singh said: “We have moved an application in the name of Sahodya (a firm run by Anthony) under Section 451 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (order for custody and disposal of property pending trial in certain cases) to get the money back recovered by the SIT. The court has issued a notice to Punjab Police seeking a detailed report in the matter. The court will hear the case on July 6.”
“Once the police file their report, we will be able to get a clearer picture on the total cash recovered,” he added.
Investigating officer, AIG Rakesh Kaushal said the amount has been deposited in the government treasury and a reply will be filed based on the investigations.
The priest had claimed the seized money was from business proceeds. He had reportedly claimed that the money was kept at his house because company employees had refused to go and deposit it in the bank due to the model code of conduct in view of the Lok Sabha polls.
After the raid, police said income tax department officials were informed about the cash seizure and investigations were launched.
An FIR against the ASIs Rajpreet Singh and Joginder Singh and a police informer, Surinder Singh, was registered by the SIT on April 12 under relevant sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and Prevention of Corruption Act.
