The Punjab Vigilance Bureau (VB) continued its steadfast efforts to combat corruption within the State, by arresting 288 government officers/officials and private persons in different total of 251 trap cases, criminal cases, and disproportionate assets cases registered across the current year up to December 26, 2023. Notably, among those involved, 66 police personnel and 44 revenue officers/officials were apprehended. Moreover, 7 political leaders and 70 government officers/officials were booked in these cases. Additionally, an amount of Rs 59,57,000 was recovered during this period in different 133 trap cases.
Disclosing this here on Wednesday, an official spokesperson of the VB said the Bureau has adopted a multi-faceted approach to corner the bribe seekers and to generate awareness among the public. All the officers/officials of the VB during the year relentlessly worked and emphasized the Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann-led government's resolute commitment to eradicate corruption and corrupt practices among public servants and others in all sectors.
Giving more details about the performance of the VB, he informed that during the ongoing campaign against corruption in the state, the Bureau has registered 103 criminal cases and 15 disproportionate assets cases. Within this period, special courts have decided 33 cases filed and contested by the VB, resulting in the conviction and sentencing of 43 officials. The VB has filed challans related to 181 vigilance cases across various courts during this period. Furthermore, 82 vigilance enquiries have also been initiated to conduct thorough investigations into corruption-related cases.
Revealing cumulative achievements of the Chief Minister Anti-corruption Action Line since its inception on 23-03-2022 by CM Bhagwant Mann, 11,074 complaints with audio-video recordings were received in the Bureau till 26-12-2023. Out of which 5740 complaints were forwarded to other concerned departments and 630 complaints to various VB ranges to probe into and take actions accordingly. After thorough investigations by the VB ranges, 151 accused were arrested/bailed out in 124 FIRs registered so far.
Providing detailed insights into the various trap cases, the spokesperson highlighted specific cases registered by various VB ranges. During the year, Baljit Singh Brar, DSP, Maur Mandi, district Bathinda was nabbed while taking a bribe of Rs. 30,000, Amit Rattan, MLA, Bathinda Rural for accepting Rs. 4,00,000, RK Gupta, Superintending Engineer, Water Supply and Sanitation Department, Mohali for getting Rs. 1,00,000 by VB Range Bathinda in different trap cases. Similarly, VB Range Jalandhar arrested Sartaj Singh Randhawa, Executive Engineer, Mining at Hoshiarpur and Harjinder Singh, SDO, Mining Dasuha, Hoshiarpur for taking bribe of Rs. 5,00,000 whereas Sarabjit Singh, SDO, Mining and others with bribe money of Rs. 40,000.
He further added that in Ludhiana district Dr. Poonam Goyal, SMO and Dr. Gourav Jain, both posted at Community Health Center, Sahnewal were nabbed red handed with bribe money of Rs.15,000. Amarjit Kumar, Assistant Engineer (Additional Charge Panchayats Department at Rajpura for taking Rs. 2,00,000 and Manish Kumar Jindal, Additional Superintending Engineer, Sub-Division PSPCL Lehra Gaga, Sangrur were arrested for accepting Rs. 45,000 bribe in two different cases by Patiala VB Range. Vipin Kumar Sharma, BDPO, block Batala, Gurdaspur was held with bribe money of Rs. 15,000 by the Amritsar unit whereas Gurpreet Singh, Executive Engineer, Punjab Urban Planning and Development Authority (PUDA), Amritsar arrested for taking bribe of Rs. 20,000.
Sukhwinder Singh Multani, Executive Engineer, Punjab State Power Corporation Limited (PSPCL), was booked by the VB range Amritsar for accepting a bribe of Rs. 4 lacs. In another case Kuldeep Singh, DDPO (Retd.) and others were booked for colluding with private persons to allot government land to them. The VB range economic offences wing Ludhiana has arrested Praveen Kumar Bharadwaj, and Dr. Tejveer Singh, both Ex-Registrars of Punjab State Pharmacy Council and Ashok Kumar, Accountant (Now Superintendent) for committing irregularities in granting pharmacy degrees.
VB's action against Political leaders
The spokesperson further informed that during the current year, the VB flying squad range Punjab has registered cases against political leaders, gazetted officers and police officers which include Neelima, IAS, managing director, Punjab Small Industries & Export Corporation (PSIEC), Sham Sunder Arora, former Punjab minister and Jagdeep Singh, owner of Gulmohar Township Mohali and others for causing financial loss to the State.
Moreover, Manpreet Singh Badal, former finance minister Punjab and others were booked for committing irregularities in procurement of plots thereby causing financial loss to the state exchequer amounting to Rs 65 lacs. Besides this, Malwinder Singh Sidhu, AIG, Human Rights, Punjab and others were arrested for taking bribes from government officers/officials by threatening them for implicating in false complaints.
Adopting a zero-tolerance policy towards all forms of corruption, Jagdeep Singh Johal, PCS, Dinesh Kumar, Deputy Director (Retd.), Horticulture, Jaspreet Singh Sidhu and Vaishali, both Horticulture Development Officers, and others were held for obtaining illegal compensation by falsely showing Guava orchids on agriculture land.
Similarly, a case has been registered against Jagmohan Singh, Ravinder Singh and Vinod Kumar, all Chief Engineers (Retd.), MR Thapar and Parminder Singh, both Deputy Chief Engineers (Retd.), Sukhwant Singh, AEE (Now AE), Jaswinder Singh Virdi, AEE, of PSPCL and others for inflicting financial loss to the government to the tune of Rs. 4.78 crores. Additionally, Ravi Pankaj Sharma, Assistant Town Planner, Jalandhar, and others were arrested for accepting Rs. 8,00,000 bribe.
Divulging more details he added that another PCS officer Narinder Singh Dhaliwal, posted as RTA, Ludhiana was booked for taking monthly bribes from private transporters by the VB range Ludhiana. In a different case, Dr. Satwant Singh Mohi, Ex-Member, Punjab Public Service Commission (PPSC), Patiala & others were booked in a scam related to recruitment of doctors in 2008-2009.
The spokesperson added that during the year, the VB has registered cases for amassing disproportionate assets against political leaders, gazetted officers and police officers which include Sadhu Singh Dharamsot, former minister, OP Soni, former Deputy CM Punjab, Bhartinder Singh Chahal, former Media Adviser to former CM Punjab, Kushaldeep Singh Dhillon, former MLA, Satkar Kaur Gehri, ex-MLA, Ferozepur Rural, and her husband Jasmail Singh, Dr. Satwant Singh Mohi, ex-MLA and ex-member, PPSC Patiala, AIG Ashish Kapoor, PPS, and his wife Kamal Kapoor and Yuvinder Singh Matta, former Deputy Excise and Taxation Commissioner (DETC), Patiala.
Revealing more, he said in this year the VB has initiated Vigilance Enquiries (VEs) against Charanjeet Singh Channi, former CM Punjab, Kamalpreet Brar, IAS, director tourism and Sanjay Kumar, IAS (Retd.) for granting prime land of Punjab government in Goa on lease at a very low price. In addition, Sadhu Singh Dharamsot, former minister, Parminder Singh Gill, Deputy Director and other officers/officials of social security department Punjab for embezzlement of Rs. 303.90 crores in funds meant for post-matric scholarship scheme.
Apart from this, different VEs for amassing disproportionate assets have also been initiated against Gurpreet Singh Kangar, former Minister Punjab, Vishal Chauhan, IFS, Conservator of Forests, Shivalik Hills, Punjab, Sarvesh Kaushal, IAS (Retd), former Chief Secretary, Dr. Swaran Singh Channi, IAS (Retd), Jagdish Singh Johal, PCS (Retd.), Land Acquisition Officer, Greater Ludhiana Area Development Authority (GLADA, Amarjeet Singh Jitti, Mayor, Municipal Corporation SAS Nagar, Malwinder Singh Sidhu, PPS, AIG, Human Rights Cell, Punjab Police, Mahesh Bansal, executive officer, coordination, PUDA, SAS Nagar, Vipan Bansal, Executive Engineer, PWD (B&R) Sangrur, Kultaran Singh Ghuman, Commandant General, Punjab Home Guards and Civil Defence, Sandeep Behal, Chief Environmental Engineer, PPCB, Ludhiana and Bachittar Singh, Patwari, a prime accused in Guava orchids case.
During the vigilance awareness week, the VB has conducted a statewide campaign in which seminars and public meetings were held in urban as well as in rural areas to weed out corruption from the society and integrity pledge was also administered to all the officers and employees of the bureau," he added. EOM