Ghaziabad Police arrested a retired colonel and the head of security at Jet Airways Sunday morning for allegedly “grabbing” 532 square metres of land at Chikambarpur, near the Delhi-Ghaziabad border in Sahibabad area. The land is allegedly owned by the Ghaziabad Municipal Corporation, police said. Akash Tomar, Superintendent of Police (City), said Avneet Singh Bedi was arrested from his residence at Panchsheel Park around 12.35 am. Tomar said, “The land is worth several crores. Bedi was formally arrested after he couldn’t show any documentation to prove that the land belongs to him. He is presently being questioned.” Bedi’s family, however, denied all allegations and maintained that the land was bought under Bedi’s mother’s name in 1959. His wife, Guneet Bedi said, “We suspect this to be a conspiracy hatched by his former employee, who was posted at the Lucknow airport. He is well-connected politically and has possibly hatched the plan.” On May 30, a team of officials from the Ghaziabad Municipal Corporation visited Chikambarpur, where they found out that the contested piece of land was being used by a logistics company. As per the FIR, they were also using an additional 268 sq metre of land as a pathway. On June 21, an FIR was lodged based on a complaint filed by a senior officer of the Ghaziabad Municipal Corporation. Besides Bedi, five other members of his family and six other people have been named in the FIR. They have been booked under sections 447 and 448 of the Indian Penal Code. Meanwhile, a spokesperson from Jet Airways, the official website of which describes Bedi as ‘Vice President (Security), said: “The airline does not comment on personal matters of our executives/ employees.”
