E-Paper
Land acquisition for Amritsar-Bathinda NH: PCS officer among six booked for bungling ₹1.63 cr
Police have booked six persons, including Punjab Civil Services (PCS) officer Dr Anupreet Kaur, for bungling ₹1.63 crore in the name of land acquisition for newly
Police have booked six persons, including Punjab Civil Services (PCS) officer Dr Anupreet Kaur, for bungling ₹1.63 crore in the name of land acquisition for newly constructed Amritsar-Bathinda national highway (NH-54). The 175-km stretch was developed at a cost of ₹2,893 crore.
Kaur was the competent authority for land acquisition (CALA)-cum-sub-divisional magistrate (SDM), Patti, from early 2018 to February 2019, when she fraudulently transferred the amount in the bank accounts of five persons. The five accused were identified as Jasbir Kaur of Manawala village and Bikramjit Singh of Hoshiar Nagar in Amritsar and Rajwinder Kaur of Mehmoodpura village, Sartaj Singh and Gurmeet Kaur of Kot Dasandi Mall village in Tarn Taran.
As per information, the matter came to the notice of Tarn Taran deputy commissioner (DC) Pardeep Kumar Sabharwal that ₹40.63 lakh of compensation money was fraudulently transferred in the account of one of the accused, Jasbir Kaur, through two cheques from SDM Patti’s account in January and February this year. After this, the DC marked an inquiry into the case to the current Patti SDM Navraj Brar.
During the inquiry, the statement of Anupreet Kaur’s bank account from August 2018 to August 2019 was accessed and it was found that ₹42.23 lakh was transferred in the account of Rajwinder Kaur, ₹18.6 lakh in Sartaj Singh’s account, ₹39.74 lakh in Bikramjit’s account and ₹22.41 lakh in Gurmeet Kaur’s bank account through different cheques signed by the then SDM Anupreet.
After this, Navraj Brar sought land record of the five accused from Patti tehsildar. Tehsildar’s report to the SDM on Wednesday showed that the accused’s land was never acquired for the NH-54.
After the inquiry, SDM Brar odged his complaint with Patti Sadar police against the accused, including Anupreet Kaur. In his complaint, the SDM said, “The accused have bungled ₹1.63 crore of government money on the pretext of land acquisition for NH54.”
The scam could be bigger as the statements of other suspected persons, in whose account compensation money was transferred, was yet to be accessed by the SDM.
Patti Sadar police assistant sub-inspector (ASI) Dilbagh Singh, who is investigating the case, said, “A case under Sections 419 (punishment for cheating by personation), 420 (cheating and dishonestly inducing delivery of property), 409 (criminal breach of trust by public servant or by banker, merchant or agent), 120-B (punishment of criminal conspiracy) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) has been registered against the accused.”
Anupreet Kaur, who is currently posted as assistant commissioner (AC), grievances, Jalandhar, was also in news in 2015 after her estranged husband Bachitar Singh, a former Kabbadi player of India team, was arrested in a dowry case. Following a complaint by Anupreet, who was then Tarn Taran SDM, police arrested her husband for allegedly demanding dowry and attempting to strangulate her.
