Jang-e-Azadi probe: Punjab VB defers summons after Hamdard seeks 10 days

The inquiry pertains to the alleged misuse of funds during the execution of the ₹315-crore Jang-e-Azadi Memorial dedicated to freedom fighters at Kartarpur near Jalandhar

Ajit Group of Newspapers editor-in-chief Barjinder Singh Hamdard has sought 10 days to appear before the Punjab Vigilance Bureau (VB) in an inquiry into the alleged misuse of funds during the execution of the ₹315-crore Jang-e-Azadi Memorial dedicated to freedom fighters at Kartarpur, 18km from the district headquarters.

The ₹315-crore Jang-e-Azadi Memorial is dedicated to freedom fighters and located at Kartarpur, 18km from Jalandhar. The mega project was the Shiromani Akali Dal-BJP government’s dream project. Conceptualised in 2012, it was completed in 2018. (HT file photo)

The VB had summoned Hamdard to appear before it on Monday at its Jalandhar range office.

One of the officials said in view of Hamdard’s plea, the VB has deferred the summons for now.

The VB’s Jalandhar range senior superintendent of police, Rajeshwar Singh Sidhu, said: “Fresh summons will be sent later.”

Hamdard, who was associated with the project since its conception in 2012, had quit as member secretary of the Jang-e-Azadi Memorial Foundation and as its managing committee president on April 10, blaming the Bhagwant Mann-led Aam Aadmi Party government of “repeatedly maligning the name of the memorial by sending police and vigilance teams”.

Besides conducting multiple checks at the site and confiscating all official records from drawings to funds sanctioned by the state government from 2014-16, the VB had also questioned the memorial’s managing committee secretary, Lakhwinder Singh Johal, and other officials of the public works department, water supply and sanitation and contractors involved in the construction.

Spread over 25 acres at Kartarpur and located 18km from Jalandhar, the mega project was the Shiromani Akali Dal-BJP government’s dream project. Former chief minister Parkash Singh Badal had inaugurated the memorial’s first phase in 2016. During his tenure, Captain Amarinder Singh also ensured financial assistance and logistics help to complete the second phase of the project in 2018.

The memorial is a unique piece of art that has a minaret, a seminar hall, an auditorium, a movie hall, a cafeteria, a library, and an open-air theatre for laser show besides an amphitheatre.