Submit report on corruption probe: HC

“You have done nothing since February. You should show us what is being done in this regard and whether action has been taken against the people named by one of the accused,” Chief Justice Tirath Singh Thakur told the counsel appearing for the Punjab government. The case will come up for hearing on Friday.

The directions were issued with regard to a suo motu notice taken by the High Court on a complaint posted by a Punjab-based resident on the basis of news reports highlighting the confessions of Ludhiana tehsildar Arvind Prakash Verma and Mullapur Dhaka naib tehsildar Salinder Singh.

Arvind had told the Vigilance that on each working day,he would make Rs 7.5 lakh through illegal gratification. Of this,he would share 25 per cent with his office staff,give Rs 2 lakh to Gurjar,Rs 75,000 to ADC Kamalpreet Kaur Brar and Rs 50,000 to SDM Surinder Mohan Sharma.

Arvind further told the Vigilance he would deal with nearly 150 cases of registration of land daily and would fix Rs 5,000-Rs 10,000 as bribe depending upon the cost of land.

“They had engaged several advocates,deed writers,reporters and four private agents to facilitate their crime,” read the affidavit submitted by Balkar Singh Sidhu,Joint Director (Crime),Vigilance Bureau.

The affidavit further reads that when the office of the sub-registrar was searched,24 sale deeds and 59 office copies were recovered. Moreover,22 mutation registers,18 sale deeds,six marriage certificates and 19 miscellaneous documents were recovered from the official residence of Arvind.

Gold ornaments worth 643.063 gms,Rs 1,59,000 and 110 Hong Kong dollars were also recovered from his residence besides Fixed Deposits valuing nearly Rs 1.90 lakh.