Ludhiana City Centre case: How state Punjab Vigilance Bureau negated its own investigation

The Indian Express explains how the Vigilance Bureau went from alleging a Rs 1,144 crore scam to saying “no scam at all”.

Probe report versus closure report

# 2007 probe report: “Loss to the exchequer and wrongful gain to M/S Today Homes is estimated at least Rs 1,500-3,000 crore. Enquiries conducted by the officers of VB, perusal of relevant documents and evidence and perusal of relevant files of the local bodies department show that the persons culpable for the various offences committed are Captain Amarinder Singh former CM Punjab, Jagjeet Singh, former minister…..(and others)”.

2017 closure report: “There is no solid evidence to say that there was any financial loss in the project. There is no proof of any bungling or scam. It is all fictional and doubtful”.

# 2007 probe report: Captain Amarinder Singh allegedly removed former chairman of Ludhiana Improvement Trust (LIT) Ashok Singh Garcha because he wanted to ‘fit’ his close aid Paramjit Singh Sibia.

2017 closure report: “Garcha was removed by Captain on the basis of suspicion that he was going to form a new political party. There is no proof that Captain wanted to fit his close aide Sibia”.

# 2007 probe report: “As per Garcha’s statement, Congress wanted funding of Rs 100 crore for Punjab polls from this project” and that “he got call from minister Jagjit Singh saying that project should be announced urgently as per the desire of the government”.

2017 closure report: This allegation is also “baseless” because “no document proof has been found for the same”. “The case file is completely mum on this,” it adds.

# 2007 probe report: Three representatives of Today Homes were “video filmed by a news channel in a sting operation, agreeing to accept black money for sale of fraudulently procured property”.

# 2017 closure report: The police “never got the original CD” and that one in its record cannot be “counted as evidence” because ‘there is no report of its forensic testing and authenticity record”.
“During probe, none from the channel came to us to prove authenticity of this sting operation and neither submitted the original CD. Thus, the copy we have cannot be counted as evidence,” says the report.

# 2007 probe report: Captain Amarinder Singh deliberately extended the “date of bid tenders” to “benefit Today Homes” from April 20, 2005 to May 10, 2005.

2017 closure report: “The dates were extended for welfare of people as City Center was a high quality project and there was a tough fight amid various companies. There is no evidence to prove that date was extended to benefit any company”.

# 2007 probe report: “The design plan of the project was changed to favor the company”.

2017 closure report: “We (vigilance) had submitted a project design map in the court procured from LIT. It showed area of project as 25.59 acres whereas a map with the company showed total area as 29.22 acres. The extra 3.63 acres were for road and green belts not for the company’s possession”.

Further adding that Captain Amarinder is “completely innocent”, the closure report argues that this is proved from from the fact he “himself ordered probe in the project in 2006 and even discussed the matter in Vidhan Sabha….This proves that he always wanted to take an honest legal opinion on the matter and was unbiased”.

Case timeline

2003: Then Punjab CM Amarinder Singh announces City Center project in Ludhiana

2006: Project starts, construction begins at site on Pakhowal road in Ludhiana under Delhi-based firm ‘Today Homes’.

Sept 2006: After media reports claiming irregularities in project, matter rocks Vidhan Sabha. Captain orders probe to vigilance

March 2007: SAD-BJP comes to power, Vigilance Bureau files FIR against Amarinder and others after initial probe alleging private firm given benefits worth Rs 1,144 crore

Dec 2007: 130-page chargesheet in the court filed against 36 persons including Captain, his son, Raninder Singh, and son-in-law Raminder Singh. List of 152 witnesses submitted

2013: ED also starts the probe in the case and files enforcement case information report (ECIR) under PMLA

March 2017: Vigilance Bureau begins ‘review’ and ‘re-investigation’ in the case after Congress comes to power. So far, no charges framed in the court even after a decade of probe.

August 2017: Vigilance Bureau files closure report in the court

September 2017: MLA Simarjeet Singh Bains challenges closure report, his plea dismissed in February 2018

November 2017: Architect S K Dey challenges closure report, plea dismissed February 2018

July 2018: Then SSP Ludhiana Vigilance Kanwarjit Sandhu challenges closure report, plea dismissed August 2018

Nov 2018: Then Director Vigilance Sumedh Singh Saini challenges closure report, plea dismissed February 2019

Nov 27: Court accepts closure report, discharges all accused

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