Jang-e-Azadi memorial probe: Vigilance books Ajit Group editor Hamdard, 25 others; arrests 15

Those booked include owners of Deepak Builder, the firm that had secured the contract for the construction of the memorial, several executive engineers, SDOs, and contractors and manager of Godrej Group, who were closely associated with the project, said Rajeshwar Singh Sidhu, Senior Superintendent of Police, VB, Jalandhar Range.

The VB, Chandigarh, in a statement said that an FIR under sections 420, 406, 409, 465, 467, 468, 471, 120-B of the IPC and section 13(1)A read with 13(2) of the Prevention of Corruption Act has been registered at VB police station, Jalandhar range.

“The work of Jang-e-Azadi project was reviewed by various technical teams. It was found that a direct financial loss of Rs 27.23 crore to the government exchequer has been done in the construction of the memorial by paying extra to the contractors and still the project is incomplete, which is another financial burden on the government,” read the statement.

The VB, an official spokesperson said, registered the case after a thorough investigation where the cardinal concern was that several companies had been disbursed full payments despite not completing work as stipulated in the tender documents.

During the probe, it was found that out of the total 235 civil items, 103 were executed as non-scheduled works for which contractor Deepak Builder was paid extra “due to which many constructions/components like 10 statues, four galleries at first floor, memorial icon, food court, and atrium could not be constructed”, the spokesperson said.

A laser show installed at a cost of Rs 14 crore was found to be non-operational since 2020. “Hamdard was responsible for this work but he did not perform his responsibilities and kept the laser show non-functional causing financial loss to the government,” the spokesperson said. However, Hamdard, who was closely associated with the project as a member secretary of the Jang-e-Azadi Memorial Foundation and the chairperson of its executive committee, had earlier said that he had resigned from all his posts and accused the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government in state of “maligning the name of the memorial by sending police and vigilance teams”.

Following a complaint of the alleged misappropriation of funds in the construction of the project dedicated to the heroes of the freedom struggle, the VB had in March last year started an investigation into the charges and summoned several officials.

Hamdard, meanwhile, had secured an interim relief from the Punjab and Haryana High Court, according to which he must be given a seven-day notice if an FIR is registered against him. Hamdard had approached the High Court seeking transfer of the VB investigation to an independent agency like the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) for “de novo inquiry”. Earlier, Hamdard had received a VB notice with several questions, to which he had sent his reply in writing.

It was in 2012 that the then SAD-BJP government proposed to build a memorial depicting the contribution of Punjabis in the freedom struggle, beginning from the rule of Maharaja Ranjit Singh to till August 1947. Punjab government sanctioned Rs 315 crore for the project allotted 25 acres of prime land located on national highway at Kartarpur in Jalandhar. Various c ommittees were formed in which Hamdard was appointed as the president of executive committee/management vommittee and IAS officer Bublani the chief executive officer.

A VB report into the alleged scam mentions: “Alarming discrepancies have been identified in the actions of the executive committee overseeing the Jang-e-Azadi project, besides the officers and employees concerned. Substantial projects worth crores had been outsourced to private companies without adhering to the tender process. Instead, non-tendered work had been commissioned by these entities, who then compensated the companies in full, raising serious questions about financial prudence”.

“An instance of irregularity came to light in the case of the contract awarded to Godrej Company for the interior work of 10 galleries… Work related to only six galleries was executed by the company, while the work on the remaining four remains incomplete. It has also been observed that the statues provided by Godrej Company were not installed at the designated galleries, contrary to the contractual terms,” it adds.

The arrested accused

Those arrested by the VB include Deepak Kumar Single, a contractor; Arvinder Singh (chief engineer retired); Tej Ram Katnoria (executive engineer, retired as chief engineer) PWD B&R, Jalandhar; Rajeev Kumar Arora, JE (SDO retired) PWD B&R; Rohit Kumar, JE, PWD B&R Construction Division, Jalandhar; Santosh Raj, executive engineer, electrical division (Retired), Amritsar; Raghwinder Singh, executive engineer, PWD Electrical division; Harpal Singh, SDO, electrical subdivision, Jalandhar currently executive engineer, electrical Ludhiana; Jatinder Arjun, SDO, (currently executive engineer, electrical division, Jalandhar); Harpreet Singh, JE, electrical sub-division, Jalandhar Cantt; Mandeep Singh, JE, electrical sub-division, Jalandhar; NP Singh, executive engineer, water supply and sanitation department; Rajat Gopal, SDO, water supply and sanitation department, Jalandhar, (currently executive engineer, water supply and sanitation Tarn Taran); Gauravdeep, JE, water Supply & sanitation, Jalandhar; and Rohit Kondal, JE, water supply and sanitation, Jalandhar, bureau officials said.

According to bureau officials, the arrested officials were “directly involved in the project scam”.