E-Paper
Multi-crore graft case: HC dismisses pleas from former GMADA chief engineer, his mother
GMADA chief engineer Surinderpal Singh had filed a plea against an order of a Mohali court, where trial in the case is underway, wide which his application for recalling eight prosecution witnesses was dismissed
The Punjab and Haryana high court has dismissed two pleas from former Greater Mohali Development Authority (GMADA) chief engineer Surinderpal Singh, alias Pehalwan, and his 70-year-old mother, both accused in a multi-crore graft case registered by the Punjab Vigilance Bureau in 2017.
Singh had filed a plea against an order of a Mohali court, where trial in the case is underway, wide which his application for recalling eight prosecution witnesses was dismissed. His mother, Swaranjit Kaur, had pleaded against the court’s order wide which her bail was cancelled.
In the mother’s case, the high court observed that the trial court was considerate enough in having granted her exemptions from personal appearance on more than 70 occasions. However, as she did not appear repeatedly, the trial court decided to cancel her bail. The court said it was a case of “deliberate absence” to delay the trial. In Singh’s case as well, the court recorded that he also appeared to be resorting to dilatory tactics and hence dismissed the plea.
It was on June 8, 2017, that the state vigilance bureau had booked Singh, among others, under the Prevention of Corruption Act . The allegations are that Singh allotted works of around ₹1,200 crore at exorbitant rates. He is also accused of parking his black money in accounts of bogus firms and family members. Singh had joined as a junior engineer in the Punjab Mandi Board in 1993. He became a superintending engineer in GMADA in 2014 and officiated as a chief engineer there from 2016.
