‘Virk spent over Rs 32 cr during tenure as DGP’

According to the chargesheet, Virk, during his tenure as DGP of Punjab, had incurred a net expenditure of Rs 32.97 crore while his income was Rs 16.11 crore. Hence, he has been charged of possessing Rs 16.86 crore money disproportionate to his known sources of income.

Virk has also been charged of causing a loss of Rs 5.06 crore to the state exchequer by evading stamp duties for buying properties in Zirakpur and in and around Chandigarh. The said properties — 10.5 acres at village Dayalpura, 9.2 acres at village Sekhan Majra, 27.4 acres at village Barakpur, 9.2 acres at village Nabha and Chhat and 3 bighas and 10 biswas at village Bishanpura, besides house number 1068, Sector 27-B, Chandigarh, were bought for a total of Rs 3.34 crore, though the same had to be registered for a consideration of Rs 9.67 crore.

Similarly, Virk succeeded in approving a mega housing project — Chandigarh Convention Centre, worth Rs 240 crore — from the Punjab Government without getting the Change of Land Use (CLU) permission sanctioning layout plan approved from the Punjab Urban Development Authority. He caused a loss of Rs 2.06 crore to the state exchequer by doing so, stated the chargesheet.

Virk has been charged of misusing his official position by putting up Chimney Heights Resort in contravention of the rules laid, as he did not get any permission for layout and CLU from the Government, though the land fell under the Periphery Act. Virk is accused of not informing the Government about his plans of constructing the resort in advance and is charged of hiding facts. He is reported to have informed the Punjab Government on November 18, 2004 about his plan to construct the said resort jointly with his brother, but informed the Government within a period of a month-and-a-half (on December 31, 2004) that the resort had been constructed and completed.

Though Virk has claimed that the land in Dayalpura, where he later constructed Chimney Heights, is his ancestral property, he has been accused of buying 10.5 acres of land in the village from one Vinod Kumar Maghan, a resident of Sangrur, who was running Maghan Pulp and Paper Industry there. The probe panel has charged Virk of spending Rs 12.62 crore on the resort, after getting all the fittings assessed from a technical team of various Government departments. This goes against the claims of Virk that he spent Rs 2.95 crore on creating infrastructure at Chimney Heights.

Virk is charged of misusing his official capacity by using “pressure tactics” on the village panchayat of Dayalpura, whereby he got a resolution passed for widening of the road which leads to the resort. Similarly, though the NAC Zirakpur passed a resolution that the land of village Chhat was not included in NAC limits in Zirakpur, Virk is charged of using his official position to get the same passed. Land measuring 15 bighas and 7 biswas situated in the revenue limits of village Chhat was included in NAC and hence, Virk succeeded in getting a proposal for a Rs 240-crore mega project to set up a Chandigarh Convention Centre approved from the government.

The chargesheet reveals that Virk had 17 saving bank accounts in various banks in Chandigarh, besides 12 loan accounts. While his savings banks showed deposits of Rs 7.34 crore, as much as Rs 7.18 crore was withdrawn from them. On the loan accounts, while Rs 12.18 crore was deposited, Rs 8.79 crore were withdrawn from them.

The chargesheet says Virk spent Rs 25 lakh of unaccounted money on the marriage of his daughter, Jasleen Kaur, which is admitted by his daughter in an FIR registered in Pune.

The chargesheet also mentions that four cases were pending investigations against Virk. These include allegedly doling out favours to a gun dealer, harbouring a former terrorist, besides alleged bungling of land belonging to an Army widow.