The Punjab Vigilance Bureau (VB) on Thursday morning arrested Mohali district forest officer (DFO) in an alleged case of graft. The arrest was made after a director of an immigration firm had lodged a complaint at the Punjab Chief Minister’s portal.
Later in the evening, the DFO was remanded in two-day police custody.
According to the VB officials, DFO Guramanpreet Singh along with contractor Harmohinder Singh was arrested after the director of Worldwide Immigration Consultancy Services (WWICS) Davinder Sandhu had lodged a complaint that the accused were demanding bribe from him for favouring him in some projects which he wanted to initiate.
A case was registered against both the accused under sections 7 and 7-A of the Prevention of Corruption (PC) Act and Section 120-B (criminal conspiracy) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).
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PremiumSSP (VB) Gaganajit Singh said that the complainant had uploaded a video on the CM’s portal, following which the video was verified and found to be authentic and the case was registered.
In his complaint, Davinder said that the case registered against his father Colonel B S Sandhu (Retd) on May 9 at Nayagaon for violation of the Punjab Land Protection Act (PLPA) was allegedly registered at the behest of DFO Guramanpreet Singh.
He alleged in his complaint that a mediator had approached him at the behest of the DFO and their meeting was arranged at a property agent’s office at TDI city on the airport road where DFO Guramanpreet Singh was present too.
The complainant alleged that he had given Rs 2 lakh to the mediator which were further given to the DFO. The complainant had shot a video of their meeting which he had presented to the authorities concerned.
The complainant had also alleged that the DFO had demanded a cut of Rs 90 lakh in the sale of farm houses.
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“In this video, Harmohinder Singh ‘Hummy’, the mediator, on his instructions tell me that out of every sale of farm worth Rs 1 crore, the DFO, Mohali, should be given Rs 90 lakh,” the complainant had alleged.
The complainant said that the meeting had taken place on April 30. The DFO had also removed some structures at Masol village and planted saplings at a land which he alleged Colonel Sandhu had illegally occupied.
The VB is also proving the role of some more officers of the forest department in the case.
