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Panchkula man held for helping EO Girish Verma amass illegal assets
A Punjab Vigilance Bureau spokesperson said the accused, Pawan Kumar Sharma, played a pivotal role in facilitating Girish Verma’s accumulation of illicit wealth
The Punjab Vigilance Bureau (VB) has arrested a Panchkula-based coloniser for allegedly helping Girish Verma, former executive officer (EO) of the Zirakpur municipal council, in accumulating disproportionate assets.
A VB spokesperson said the accused, Pawan Kumar Sharma, played a pivotal role in facilitating Verma’s accumulation of illicit wealth.
This was achieved by deceitfully selling an open plinth, located on a 5-acre plot in Khudal Kalan village, Bareta, Mansa.
The plinth, originally intended for storage purposes with a capacity of 25,000 metric tonnes, was falsely portrayed as agricultural land. The land was undervalued during registration, and Sharma, known for his real estate business in Zirakpur, allegedly provided Verma undue advantages in return.
Sharma allegedly also assisted Verma in concealing his illicitly acquired funds by engaging in money layering techniques and integrating the cash into legitimate banking system through various means, including providing bank entries.
Additionally, the spokesperson revealed that Sharma had engaged in multiple financial transactions with the EO’s son Vikas Verma.
The MC officer was arrested on October 12, 2020, after a vigilance probe had found that he spent ₹7.15 crore more than his income between April 2008 and March 2021. Verma was posted as EO, Bhikhiwind, Amritsar, when he was arrested.
According to the bureau, using illegally acquired wealth, Verma purchased multiple properties in his name, besides his wife Sangeeta Verma and son Vikas Verma. Despite being unemployed, both Sangeeta and Vikas own 10 and five properties, respectively.
The properties involved in the case include commercial showrooms located in Zirakpur and Panchkula, as well as residential houses in Panchkula and Ludhiana. Furthermore, the accused also acquired plots in Kansal, Chandigarh; Dhakoli, Zirakpur; and Khudal Kalan, Mansa.
In addition to these transactions, he had invested a sum of ₹1.32 crore in two developer firms under his son’s name.
Recently, the Punjab and Haryana high court had dismissed the anticipatory bail petitions of co-accused Gaurav Gupta and Sanjiv Kumar, both partners of Vikas Verma in the real estate firm, Balaji Infra Buildtech. An anticipatory bail plea of Vikas was also dismissed by the HC and he remains at large.
