The Punjab Vigilance Bureau (VB) has blamed successive state governments headed by Captain Amarinder Singh, and Charanjit Channi as well as the present one headed by Bhagwant Mann for stonewalling investigations into the Rs 1000 crore irrigation scam by not granting prosecution sanction to proceed against two former Akali ministers and three IAS officers, who have now retired.
The Vigilance Bureau has informed the High Court that it had written several letters and reminders to the successive state governments especially on December 5, 2019, November 30, 2021, December 17, 2021, and the latest last week seeking grant of prosecution sanction, but to no avail.
The Vigilance Bureau statement came in response to a public interest litigation filed in the Punjab and Haryana High Court by senior advocate Baltej Singh Sidhu,
In advocate Sidhu's view, "it is a classic case of the cop conniving with the thief. Big-time money is involved, and those who took bribes are no ordinary people. They manipulated the Captain and Channi governments to their favour with ease. Now the Bhagwant Mann-led government is proving no good either," he bemoans.
Sidhu disclosed that the senior deputy advocate general, Gaurav Garg Dhuriwala on November 8, 2021, gave an undertaking in the court of chief justice R.S. Jha that the government would take a decision on the grant of prosecution sanction within four weeks. But till date nothing was done. A contempt petition stands filed against the government.
Gurkirat Kirpal Singh, principal secretary, department of public relations and information, responded to a query sent by India Narrative saying, "I am not in receipt of any press release or statement by VB on this subject. So you are requested to contact VB for its response."
The VB on August 17, 2017, registered an FIR under various sections of the prevention of corruption Act (PCA), cheating, embezzlement, and conspiracy against a contractor Gurinder Singh alias Bhappa, and several irrigation officers. The scam occured when the Akali-BJP government was in power for 10 consecutive years.
During the course of investigations, names of two former irrigation ministers of the Akali regime, Janmeja Singh Sekhon and Sharanjit Singh Dhillon, besides three IAS officers, Sarvesh Kaushal, KBS Sidhu, and Kahan Singh Pannu surfaced as co-accused.
The sanction to prosecute the former ministers is to be granted by the department of parliamentary affairs, and for the IAS officer it has to come from the department of personnel.
Contractor Gurinder Singh, in his statement recorded after the arrest, disclosed that he had been regularly paying bribes to the mentioned persons, besides three chief engineers for allotment of works and clearing of the bills without hindrance.
He paid a total of Rs 6.5 crores to Janmeja Singh Sekhon through his PA Sehajpreet Singh Mangat, Rs. 7.5 crores to Sharanjit Singh Dhillon through his PA Dhiman, Rs 8.5 crores to Sarvesh Kaushal, Rs. 5.5 crores to KBS Sidhu and Rs. 7 crores to Kahan Singh Pannu.
Surprisingly, even before the completion of the investigation, Dhillon had the audacity to hold a press conference recently and claim that no scam actually happened in the irrigation department during the Akali-BJP rule. "We are being harassed for no reason. A mere statement of an accused before the police, without any corroborative evidence, holds no ground in the eyes of law," he maintains.
The VB claims that tenders were tailor-made for Gurinder whose annual income rose 60 times from Rs 4.5 crores to Rs 300 crores. The works allotted to him were never executed on the ground, yet exorbitant bills were passed for payment. He amassed a large number of residential and commercial properties in Chandigarh, Mohali, Ludhiana, Patiala, and Noida.
Interestingly, a day before his surrender Gurinder withdrew Rs 100 crore in cash from two banks in violation of Reserve Bank of India (RBI) norms. The RBI permits withdrawal of not more than Rs 2 lakh in cash in a single day. The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has registered a separate FIR in this regard.
Advocate Sidhu suspects that the withdrawal of money may have been allowed with the help of officers investigating the case. "Otherwise, how is it possible for an accused being hounded by the cops to withdraw so much money just a day before his arrest," he questions. There is no explanation available as to where the money went though VB interrogated him for over two weeks in its custody.
Venu Parsad, chief principal secretary to CM did not reply to the query sent to him on his WhatsApp number, nor did Baltej Pannu, director of media relations of the Punjab government respond.
