2011 case: Ex-Punjab govt official held guilty by court for accepting bribe of Rs 1.50 cr

A second person, Bhag Singh, the then private secretary at the Punjab secretariat, posted as personal assistant to a Cabinet Minister, was acquitted by the court, with proceedings against Raj Khurana, a former Punjab MLA and Chief Parliamentary Secretary (CPS), being dropped as he passed away in 2017.

As per details, the accused were put on trial under Section 8 of the Prevention of Corruption Act, and Section 120-B (criminal conspiracy) of the Indian Penal Code.

The graft case was registered in 2011 on the complaint of one Manpreet Singh, general secretary of Punjab Automobile Mechanics Association. Singh had alleged that the association had purchased a pocket of land in 1981 in Bishangarh village, Dera Bassi.

Later, the association decided to sell the land. Initially the land could not be sold due to a court case, which was finally wrapped up in 2009. Subsequently, the land was sold and the amount distributed among members of the association.

Singh, further, alleged that a few days after selling the land, accused Davinder Singh Thapa rang him up, told him that there was a complaint against him and other executive members of the association. The complainant Manpreet Singh and vice president of the association, SS Sondhi, met Davinder who told him that there were orders to depute an IAS officer as the head of Punjab Automobile Mechanics Association and also for registering a FIR against the executive members of the association.

As per allegations, Thapa demanded Rs 2 crore from Singh to close the complaint against them, which the association members negotiated down to Rs 1.50 crore. Thapa told the members that he would get the work done through one Raj Khurana, who would approach Manoranjan Kalia, a minister of Punjab government, for the purpose. In the chargesheet, the CBI also attached a transcript of DVR recordings, as per which Davinder Thapa had demanded the bribe of Rs 1.50 crore stating that the amount was for Manoranjan Kalia, which was to be delivered through Raj Khurana.

Manpreet later approached the CBI, which lodged a complaint and set a trap after which Davinder Thapa was arrested while allegedly accepting the bribe. The bureau later nabbed Khurana and Bhag Singh in the matter.

As per CBI, Bhag Singh also allegedly got a note signed from Swarna Ram, also then Punjab Cabinet Minister, and the note referred the complaint to a senior BJP leader and former MLA Manoranjan Kalia. Bhag Singh allegedly made available the copy of the note to Thapa so that he could ask for the bribe, as per allegations.

During the trial, the defense counsels for Bhag Singh and Devinder Singh argued that they have been falsely implicated in the case.

The court, however, after hearing the arguments, acquitted Bhag Singh, while convicting Devinder Singh alias Thapa in the matter.