E-Paper
Seonk village land fraud: Mohali court dismisses key accused’s bail plea
Former sarpanch of Kansal village is accused of accepting ₹1 crore bribe in the 2017 shamlat land scam at Seonk village in Mohali district’s Majri block
The additional district and sessions court has dismissed the bail plea of Arjun Kansal, one of the key accused in the 2017 shamlat land scam at Seonk village in Mohali district’s Majri block.
Kansal, a former sarpanch of Kansal village, is facing charges of taking ₹1 crore bribe in the multi-crore scam and has been on interim bail since March 2021.
While dismissing the bail, special judge (duty) Parminder Singh Grewal observed that the custodial interrogation of the accused was required to ascertain the alleged mode and manner of the alleged offence and to further establish as to which officer was paid the bribe amount of ₹1 crore to get favourable order from the revenue court concerned with respect to the transfer of the shamlat land to the village proprietors.
“The custodial interrogation of the petitioner is also required to recover ₹1 crore, which was allegedly paid by the complainant, Ramesh Kumar Saini, for the aforesaid purpose,” the court observed.
The Punjab vigilance bureau has already filed a chargesheet against Zirakpur naib tehsildar Varinder Pal Singh Dhoot and 10 others for illegal mutation of 1,295 acres of village common land in Seonk and fraudulently selling it off in connivance with subordinate revenue officials and private individuals.
The accused, including parwari Iqbal Singh and kanungo Raghbir Singh, had illegally changed the ownership of the land, naming people who were not even residents of Seonk village, while depriving actual beneficiaries of their share.
During investigation into the scam, the bureau also found Kansal accepted a bribe of ₹1 crore from one Ramesh Kumar Saini for getting an order in favour of Seonk residents with respect to the shamlat land, following which Kansal was named as accused in the case.
The accused are facing trial under Sections 7 (offence relating to public servant being bribed) and 7A (taking undue advantage to influence public servant by corrupt or illegal means or by exercise of personal influence) of the Prevention of Corruption Act, besides Sections 409 (criminal breach of trust by public servant), 420 (cheating), 465 (forgery), 466 (forgery of record of court or of public register), 467 (forgery of valuable security), 471 (fraudulently or dishonestly uses as genuine documents) and 120-B (criminal conspiracy ) of the Indian Penal Code.
