Property Purchase Case: Vigilance raids ex-finance minister Manpreet’s Badal village residence; three others arrested

Rajiv, Amandeep and Vikas have been arrested, the spokesperson said, adding raids were being conducted to arrest Badal and the remaining accused.

A vigilance team reached Manpreet’s Badal village home at 5.40 pm and stayed there for around 50 minutes. Manpreet was not at home when the team led by DSP Kulwant Singh reached there.

While the vigilance team was yet to divulge any details pertaining to the raid, there also was no immediate reaction from Manpreet or the BJP.

Meanwhile, Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann, in a statement, took a swipe at Manpreet, saying those who used to boast about honesty are now running from pillar to post to save their skin. “There is a huge difference between speaking the truth and standing by it…These hypocrites always befooled people with their flowery language,” Mann said, adding under the garb of public service, they looted the wealth of the state which is not tolerable.

“They will be made accountable for their sins and every penny plundered from the state treasury will be recovered. The entire Punjab is well aware of his misdeeds,” said Mann.

Soon after he was questioned by the vigilance in July, Manpreet had accused Mann of trying to suppress the voice of his political opponents with such action.

The vigilance bureau had launched an investigation into the matter based on BJP leader and former MLA Sarup Chand Singla’s 2021 complaint alleging irregularities in the purchase of the property at a prime location in Bathinda.

Singla, who was earlier with the Shiromani Akali Dal, had alleged that Manpreet, as a minister in the previous Congress dispensation, had abused his position to convert two commercial plots into a residential plot for himself.

The case was registered under relevant sections of the Indian Penal Code, including sections 420 (cheating) and 468 (forgery), and also under the Prevention of Corruption Act.

During the probe, it was found that Manpreet abused his position to purchase two plots measuring 1,560 square yards of land in Model Town phase-1 Bathinda thereby causing a financial loss of lakhs of rupees to the state exchequer, the vigilance bureau claimed.

The spokesperson of the bureau said it was found that the Manpreet allegedly colluded with the officials of the BDA Bathinda, misled the general public during the bidding of plots in the year 2021 and fake maps were uploaded to prevent public participation in the bidding process.

Apart from this, the plot numbers 725-C (560 square yards) and 726 (1,000 square yards) in the map were also shown as commercial instead of residential and the numbers of plots were not shown in the map on the online e-auction portal, it was alleged.

In addition to this, the digital signatures of an administrative officer of the BDA Bathinda were used for the auction of plots without permission, said the spokesperson.

It also came to light that the bids of the sole three bidders namely Rajiv Kumar, Vikas Arora and Amandeep Singh were made by one person identified as advocate Sanjiv Kumar.

Apart from this, both the plots were purchased by the bidders in 2021 at a lower rate which was fixed during an auction in the year 2018, causing a financial loss of about Rs 65 lakh to the government.

Manpreet purchased both plots through agreements from the bidders known to him before they got allotment letters from the BDA Bathinda.

It was also found that Manpreet transferred 25 per cent earnest money in advance to the successful allottees which shows his connivance with the bidders, said the spokesperson.

During the investigation, the bureau had interrogated Manpreet in July.

A few days ago, the former finance minister had filed a pre-arrest bail application in a court in Bathinda and the matter is listed for hearing on September 26.

He had joined the BJP after quitting the Congress in January this year.