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High court orders CBI probe in ₹100-crore Zirakpur land grab case
Delhi-based trust had moved high court over attempt to grab eight acres of their prime land along VIP Road in Zirakpur
The Punjab and Haryana high court has ordered a probe by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) into the alleged attempt to grab eight acres of prime land abutting the upscale VIP Road in Zirakpur.
The bench of justice Pankaj Jain also directed the high court registry to send the case file to the administrative judge for “information and necessary action” about a Bathinda judicial officer, Navreet Kaur, arrayed as a party.
“.., the manner in which legal process has been employed to serve the illegal designs of the troublemakers and the conduct of the investigating agency in shifting its stand every now and then, this is one of those cases which calls for a thorough and detailed investigation from an independent agency,” the bench observed, while handing the probe into the FIR, registered by Zirakpur police on March 10, 2022, to CBI.
The petitioner trust, Guru Nanak Vidya Bhandar Trust, Daryaganj, New Delhi, had moved the high court in February, seeking transfer of the probe to CBI.
As per the plea, the trust, which is over 100 years old, had purchased various properties from time to time. Allegations are that a fake trust was created by forging documents by the accused, Rajinder Kumar and Sarabjit Singh, to forcibly take possession of the eight-acre land chunk along VIP Road.
Two others, Sanjeev Kumar Gabha and Rajesh Kumar Gabha, are also named as accused in the FIR.
‘Police gave clean chit’
A report filed by Mohali SSP Sandeep Kumar Garg on August 18 had informed the court that the cancellation report has been approved in the FIR.
However, on October 18, a fresh status report was filed by Garg, taking a “complete somersault” and submitting that challan has been presented against four persons on October 16 and others’ role is being probed.
The court observed that the shifting stand of investigating agency doesn’t augur well, that too when the matter is pending before the high court.
“It can’t be taken lightly more so keeping in view the mode and the manner in which the process of law has been abused. This shows that neither the offence is routine nor the perpetrator can be taken lightly,” it said, asking CBI to conduct probe in the FIR and conclude it within six months.
As of role of the judicial officer, it was alleged that a Bathinda lawyer, Vikas Kumar, who had also appeared in the dispute in Mohali, “clandestinely” shifted the forum of litigation to Bathinda, where the case was taken up by judicial officer Navreet Kaur, who passed orders in an unrelated case, seeking record of the trust and also examination of some witnesses to “pressure” complainants from the trust.
As the matter came to light, HC had sought an explanation from the judicial officer. But she couldn’t explain the “relevance of evidence (record of trust etc)” in the case being dealt at Bathinda, the bench observed in its order.
As of advocate Vikas Kumar, he had admitted that the record summoned did not have any relevance to the case pending in Bathinda. His case now has been transferred to the Bar Council of Punjab and Haryana for necessary action.
