E-Paper
Manpreet colluded with BDA officials, aides to pocket plots, says VB probe
Former finance minister Manpreet Badal, who is now with the BJP, has been accused of colluding with officials to acquire residential plots in Bathinda. The Vigilance Bureau probe alleges that Badal misused his ministerial position, causing a loss of ₹65 lakh to the state exchequer. Badal is the sixth minister of the previous Congress government to be booked in a corruption case. He has sought anticipatory bail and claims the investigation is a political witch-hunt. VB sleuths raided multiple locations, including Badal's farmhouse, but his whereabouts are unknown. Two aides have been sent to police remand.
A vigilance bureau (VB) probe has found that former finance minister Manpreet Badal allegedly colluded with officials of the Bathinda Development Authority (BDA) and his trusted aides since 2018 to pocket two residential plots measuring 1,560 square yards in the city’s prime location.
As per the first information report (FIR) registered at VB’s Bathinda zone, Manpreet, now with the Bharatiya Janta Party (BJP), “misused his ministerial position” in the previous Congress regime to manipulate BDA records to get the plots and it caused the state exchequer a loss of ₹65 lakh.
Manpreet is the sixth minister of the previous Congress government to have been booked in the Vigilance -probed corruption case. Since the registration of an FIR on Sunday, Manpreet has been incommunicado. Last week, he moved the Bhatinda court for an anticipatory bail. The court will hear his plea today.
In his earlier statements, Manpreet alleged that the Vigilance investigation was a political witch-hunt by chief minister Bhagwant Mann.
In July, five- time MLA appeared before the vigilance bureau’s Bathinda zone office, where he was questioned for more than four hours. Dubbing the case as a ‘bundle of lies’, he had said, “ There was no irregularity in the plot allotment.”
VB raids ex-FM’s farmhouse
On Monday, teams of VB sleuths raided multiple locations, including Manpreet’s farmhouse at Muktsar’s Badal village but his whereabouts remained uncertain, bureau’s deputy superintendent of police Kulwant Singh told reporters at Badal.
VB probe was initiated on the complaint filed by former MLA Sarup Chand Singla who had alleged irregularities in the purchase of a property in a prime location in Bathinda city. Singla, who too had switched from the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) to the BJP, had filed a complaint before vigilance in September 2021 alleging that during his tenure as finance minister in the previous Congress regime, Manpreet had abused his position by converting commercial plots in the Model Town into residential plots for himself.
Meanwhile, the FIR states that Manpreet’s plan to get the plots in the Model Town phase dates back to 2018.
“In 2018, BDA invited online bids for residential plots at the rate of ₹29,900 square metre but no person showed interest in it. An investigation showed that the BDA officials did not upload a map detailing the location of the said plots. In the absence of any knowledge about the location of the site, there was no bidder and the officials projected that people were not interested in the deal,” said the probe report.
The police probe states three years later, the same plots were again put on auction by the BDA officials at the price of 2018.
“Official data showed that BDA authorities played a mischief in 2021 too as on the portal, the residential plots were shown as commercial and the numbers of plots were not mentioned for the online bidders. E-auction was opened from September 17-27, 2021, but there was no bidder for the plots except Manpreet’s aides Rajiv, Vikas and Amandeep. Records showed that three lone bidders offered ₹30,348.5 per square metre against the reserved prices of ₹29,900. Forensic examination says that the bids were made on the last day and the bids were made from a single computer of one Sanjeev Kumar,” reads the FIR.
Police records pointed at two more points to prove a conspiracy in the entire process as the bidders Rajiv and Vikas sold the plots to Manpreet.
“Last date of e-auction was September 27 and allotment letters were issued to the winning bidders on October 8. Whereas, the records show that the parties prepared sale deed papers through stamp papers bought on September 30. Similarly, Manpreet transferred earnest money, that is to be paid by two allottees to BDA, to the banks of both allottees and it proved a conspiracy,” reads the FIR.
As per the FIR, PCS officer Shergill, then BDA chief administrator and Pankaj Kalia, a then BDA superintendent, forged digital signatures of the agency’s administrative officer to upload a map falsely showing it as a commercial site to mislead the general public.
Two aides sent to police remand
Briefing reporters, VB’s DSP Kulwant Singh said Rajiv Kumar, a city-based hotelier and Amandeep Singh, who were arrested late Sunday evening, were produced in a Bathinda court and were sent to the police remand till September 28. Another accused, Vikas Arora, who was arrested today, was yet to produce in the court.
