More than two months after a scathing inquiry report found senior officers of the Punjab Vigilance Bureau (VB) guilty of abusing power in arresting a patwari,the Chief Ministers Office has now forwarded the report to the vigilance department for their comments. The patwari,Mohan Singh,was allegedly subjected to inhuman treatment in police custody after being wrongly arrested in a case. Awaiting justice,members of the Punjab Revenue Patwar Union had last week given an ultimatum to the government to take action against the accused by July 8,failing which,they would stage dharnas at all district headquarters on July 9. The union had alleged that following orders of senior VB officers,Mohan Singh was arrested from his residence on February 18 and implicated in a false case. In custody,VB officials made the patwari remove his clothes and also asked a police officer to remove his clothes. The patwari was then inhumanly treated. The officers also allegedly recorded the whole thing in a mobile and threatened the patwari to keep silent or else they would release the video on the Internet. They further alleged that whole operation was orchestrated on the orders of then SSP (VB) Patiala,Shiv Kumar Sharma,from whom the patwari had demanded an official fee of Rs 20 to hand over the copy of a land record in 2009. Since then Sharma,stated the report,carried a grudge against the patwari and got him framed in two false cases. The patwari,they said,had also brought to the notice of the government,property worth crores procured by Sharma in and around Patiala. An inquiry was conducted into these allegations by special principal secretary to the chief minister,Kahan Singh Pannu. He found that the patwari was falsely implicated by Shiv Kumar (now retired),Ferozepur SSP (VB) Jaspal Singh,joint director (VB-Admn) Surinder Pal Singh,then Moga SP (VB) Banarsi Dass (under suspension) and Sangrur Sub-Inspector (VB) Isher Singh. The report stated that these officers abused their power,concocted evidence,created and destroyed official papers to mislead the inquiry. Moga SSP Surjit Singh Grewals role is under suspicion in the case that required further probe,it added. The report was submitted by Pannu to the chief secretary almost two months ago. When no action was taken by the government on the report,allegedly due to the good connections of the accused with the states top cops,members of the patwari union met the chief minister. The CM assured the association that appropriate action will be taken against the accused based on the findings of the inquiry report. Sources in the CMO said the report has been sent to the vigilance department,which has now been asked to comment on the action that can be taken against these officers. The reply from the is expected in the coming week, added a source.
