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Hoshairpur land scam: 8 arrested, 42 new accused booked for usurping ₹64 crore
A Special Investigation Team (SIT) of the vigilance bureau, during its investigation, found that the record was found to be missing from the office of the sub-divisional magistrate and tehsildar of Hoshiarpur
The vigilance bureau on Saturday arrested eight persons and nominated 42 others in the ₹64-crore Hoshairpur land scam regarding the distribution of compensation for the acquisition of land for the Jalandhar-Chintpurni highway.
Those arrested include Pradeep Gupta, Dalwinder Kumar, Harpinder Singh, Hardeep Kaur, Tajinder Singh, and Mohit Gupta along with deed writer Ramji and retired patwari Jaswinder Singh. The accused will be presented in court on Sunday. A VB official said raids are on to nab other accused.
The scam came to light in 2016 and a case was registered in 2017. During the Congress regime in 2019, VB had filed a closure report in the case which was rejected by the court. The court also asked VB to conduct a fresh probe. PCS officer Anand Sagar Sharma, who is posted as additional secretary-home, has been nominated as an accused along with the other officials.
The special investigation team of the bureau, under the supervision of director Rahul S, has found that records pertaining to the project were missing from the offices of Hoshiarpur SDM and tehsildar, Hoshiarpur. Anand was the then SDM of Hoshiarpur and VB has accused him of providing benefits to the tune of several crores of rupee to his near and dear ones.
According to the SIT investigation, then SDM Anand “fraudulently changed the draft 3-A (classification of land) schedule plan” prepared by Louis Berger Company, the firm that was given the task of surveying the land and submitting a detailed project report (DPR), and illegally released compensation amounting to ₹64 crore to persons known to him. The SIT probe further found that SDM realigned the highway in five villages Khawaspur, Digana Kalan, Digana Khurd, Hardo Khanpur and Khasra of Bassi Jana-Chohli in schedule 3-A prepared by him. It did not correspond to the original draft 3-A schedule prepared by Louis Berger Company after the survey.
The SDM then leaked the realigned information to persons known to him, who then purchased the land and pocketed the compensation, the probe further said.
“Persons known to SDM purchased the land along the new road alignment. During the probe, the bureau added another section 201 of IPC in this case and nominated 42 more new accused, out of which 8 accused were arrested on Saturday. After receiving the said schedule draft 3-a from executive engineer PWD Hoshiarpur, the then SDM Sharma was supposed to verify the documents recorded in it but kept the said draft schedule pending in his office for more than four months. In the meantime, he changed the Khasra numbers of the above-mentioned five villages for the notification, the VB spokesperson said.
“The accused SDM, by taking false reports from his subordinate patwari also wrongly changed the nature of land from agriculture to residential/commercial and prepared a false variation certificate in this regard. Later, a total compensation amount of ₹286.36 crore from the central government was received by the said SDM, who with a criminal conspiracy, further conniving with the land mafia, illegally disbursed compensation of ₹64 crore at the residential rates for the land which was published as agriculture land in the land acquisition notifications,” the spokesperson added.
During the investigation, it also came to light that the accused Sharma gave confidential information to his close associates who further purchased the land from the original owners. It was found that a total of 54 registries were registered by revenue officers falling in the changed alignment in villages Khawaspur and Hardo Khanpur after notification 3-A and till distribution of awards,” the spokesperson said.
As many as 13 accused, including the then SDM Anand Sagar Sharma, Baljinder Singh, tehsildar, Hoshiarpur, Manjit Singh, naib tehsildar, Hoshiarpur and others, joined the investigation or have been arrested in the FIR registered under section 420, 467, 468, 471, 120-B of the Indian Penal Code and 13(1) (d), 13(2) of the Prevention of Corruption Act at VB police station, economic offences wing, Ludhiana.
Timeline
June 22, 2016: CM Parkash Singh Badal orders probe into the scam after HT report
Feb 10, 2017: VB’s economic offences wing registers an FIR against 11 persons in Ludhiana
May 25, 2018: VB constitutes SIT headed by SSP Paramjit Singh Goraya
June 6, 2019: ED files prosecution complaint against six persons
June 14, 2019: VB files cancellation report in a Ludhiana court
Sept 3, 2019: Special PMLA court issues arrest warrant against six persons to face trial under PMLA sections
Sept 23, 2019: ED files application to transfer case from Ludhiana to special PMLA court, Jalandhar
April 5, 2022: Ludhiana court rejects the closure report and orders fresh probe
