The Punjab Vigilance Bureau on Tuesday arrested six more people, including three woman, in the illegal compensation scam involving planting of guava trees in Bakarpur village here, taking the total number of arrests in the case to 15.
The accused obtained compensation worth crores of rupees from the state government through illegal means during the land acquisition in the said village.
A spokesperson of the state VB said the arrested individuals include Sunita Gupta and her son Gaurav Kansal, residents of Sector 18, Chandigarh.
The other accused include Gurminder Singh and Harminder Singh, their mother Sukhraj Kaur, and Amrik Kaur, all residents of Bakarpur village.
The spokesperson said that the VB hasd obtained documentary records from the departments of revenue, land acquisition collector, GMADA, sub-registrar Mohali, horticulture department and analysed them in detail regarding the roles and actions of the alleged beneficiaries.
These beneficiaries have caused wrongful gains to themselves and incurred significant losses to the exchequer in connivance with some officials of different departments, the official said.
Consequently, numerous beneficiaries were nominated as accused and their premises were raided on Tuesday to effect their arrests, he added.
{{/usCountry}}Consequently, numerous beneficiaries were nominated as accused and their premises were raided on Tuesday to effect their arrests, he added.
{{/usCountry}}The spokesperson said that during the probe, it was found that PD Gupta, his wife Sunita, and their two sons Gaurav Kansal and Abhishek Kansal, purchased one acre of land in Bakarpur village in 2018, with each member having an equal 1/4 share.
During the acquisition process, they fraudulently claimed compensation of approximately ₹1 crore by falsely asserting that a guava orchard had been planted on the said land since 2016.
The aforementioned family members have been named as accused in this case, and on Tuesday, Gaurav and his mother Sunita were arrested, he said. Similarly, Gurminder and Harminder, both sons of Amar Singh, along with their mother Sukhraj Kaur, all residents of Bakarpur village, also fraudulently claimed compensation of ₹1.84 crore each in collusion with officials from the revenue and horticulture departments. Providing further details, he informed that Amrik Kaur and her son Varinder Singh, residents of Bakarpur village, had also received wrongful compensation of ₹ 1.25 lakh each.
Various teams of the VB conducted raids at different locations across the state to apprehend other accused individuals, and a special operation was currently ongoing, he added..