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Punjab irrigation dept declines JE’s prosecution in corruption case
Water resources principal secretary Krishan Kumar claims official VB caught red-handed not at fault as she was trapped in fabricated case that’s fallout of rivalry
Despite the Bhagwant Mann-led Aam Aadmi Party government’s rhetoric of zero tolerance for corruption, the state’s water resources department has refused to grant prosecution sanction to the Punjab Vigilance Bureau (VB) against a junior engineer (JE) who was caught red-handed while accepting a bribe.
The decision, which comes after nearly a year of deliberation, has sparked off a controversy as state water resources department secretary Krishan Kumar claimed that the case against the JE was fabricated and motivated by rivalry.
This is the first time that a department has declined prosecution sanction to the VB to act against an officialn accused of corruption.
The JE, Simarpreet Kaur Dhillon, then serving as the mining officer of Rupnagar, was apprehended for corruption by the VB’s flying squad on March 5, 2021. She was subsequently charged under Section 7 of the Prevention of Corruption Act and Section 120-B of the Indian Penal Code.
Amanpreet Singh, a clerk, and Pal Singh, a mining guard from the office of the district mining officer in Rupnagar, were also arrested on similar charges of accepting bribes from stone crusher owners on a monthly basis.
According to the VB, Dhillon was caught red-handed accepting a bribe of ₹25,000 from Baljinder Singh, in the presence of two government witnesses.
‘Framed for acting against illegal mining’
However, department principal secretary Krishan Kumar dismissed the prosecution request by stating that Dhillon was framed due to her efforts against illegal mining, which had allegedly earned her enemies.
It his letter to the VB, Krishan Kumar said that he had given a personal hearing to Simarpreet. “It has been pleaded by the officer that she took substantive actions against illegal miners and didn’t adhere to the then political bosses who wanted favour in illegal mining. It has also been pleaded that a huge racket was going on of protection money in which an MLA was involved. She registered FIRs against illegal miners. Since she disagreed to wishes of illegal mining, as a result thereof, she has been involved in a false and fabricated case,” read the letter.
Declining the prosecution, Krishan Kumar said: “It is prima facie found that as the officer acted against illegal miners, she was framed using the VB. The competent authority has arrived at the conclusion that the officer was not at fault and she got trapped in a fabricated case as a result of rivalry. Thus, prosecution sanction is declined.”
Unprecedented, won’t allow it: VB
The decision to decline prosecution has drawn objection from the Punjab VB, which asserts that all three accused were caught red-handed during the raid. The VB had presented a challan against Amanpreet Singh and Pal Singh in court on December 21, 2021. However, due to the absence of prosecution sanction, the challan against Simarpreet could not be presented.
The VB spokesperson said that it’s not acceptable for a department to decline prosecution against an officer caught red-handed. The VB questioned the authority of the principal secretary to hear the officer concerned, as it’s not an inquiry but a matter of prosecution. “There is no such provision of hearing, the case has to be decided on the basis of records provided by the VB. It’s a new trend, we won’t allow it,” the spokesperson said.
The VB argued that the sanction should have been dealt with by the mining secretary, as Simarpreet was a mining officer at the time of her arrest, while Krishan Kumar is water resources secretary.
The VB has escalated the matter to the chief secretary and indicated its intention to inform the chief minister, as it believes the decline in prosecution is not justified.
