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Hoshiarpur land scam: Arrest warrant issued against 6, including 3 Akali leaders
The district and session’s judge and special judge (PMLA) issued the arrest warrants of three Akali leaders, Shiromani Akali Dal former councillor Harpinder Singh
The district and session’s judge and special judge (PMLA) issued the arrest warrants of three Akali leaders, Shiromani Akali Dal former councillor Harpinder Singh Gill, former district co-operative bank chairman Satwinderpal Singh Dhatt, former market committee chairman Avtar Singh Johal and local businessman Parteek Gupta, his partner Pardeep Gupta and Jaswinderpal Singh.
The arrest warrants were issued on the prosecution complaint filed by enforcement directorate (ED) for October 9, to face trial for the offence under Section 3 and Section 4 of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002.
The order said it has gone through statements recorded during investigation. From the bare perusal of statements of the accused and other witnesses and also by going through documents relied upon the complainant, a prima facie is made out against all accused under Sections 3 and 4 of the PMLA Act, 2002. It further stated that the offence is non bailable.
Under the provisions of section 44 (d) of special court while trying the schedule offence or the offence money laundering shall hold trail in accordance with the provision of Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 as it applies before the session court.
In September last year, the enforcement directorate (ED) had ordered the attachment of properties worth Rs 37 crore owned by the five main accused in the Hoshiarpur land scam.
Meanwhile, Punjab Vigilance Bureau had silently filed a cancellation report in the Hoshiarpur land acquisition scam in June this year at Ludhiana court and also given a clean chit to PCS officer Anand Sagar Sharma. Later, the five persons hailing from Hoshiarpur district challenged the cancellation report.
The land scam was exposed in June 2016 in which it was alleged that irregularities were committed by the competent authority appointed for acquiring land for four-laning project from Jalandhar district to Hoshiarpur. The then sub divisional magistrate (SDM) Hoshiarpur Anand Sagar Sharma was the competent authority for acquiring land for the project.
As per the FIR of February 2017, the Akali leaders and other land dealers, in alleged connivance with the sub-divisional magistrate (SDM), purchased land notified for a national highway project in the names of their family from farmers at relatively low prices, and then sold it to the government on higher rates. Also, chunks of farmland purchased by these dealers and politicians were shown as residential colonies to get even higher compensation.
Surprisingly no challan has ever been presented in the court against the main accused, while the case was registered in February 2017 and closure report filed on June 26 this year.
Then, chief minister Parkash Singh Badal had ordered a vigilance probe after which a case was registered against the 11 accused on February 10, 2017.
It is alleged in the complaint that in the said manner, the accused and their family had received excess and undue compensation to the tune of Rs36.97 crores. The accused persons got compensation from the government by claiming their land to be of commercial and residential nature, although the land was agricultural, and in this way, as per FIR, a total amount of Rs58crore was paid in excess to the private parties by wrongly calculating the amount of compensation on residential/commercial rates, causing a loss to the government.
