Ludhiana: VB nabs retd tehsildar, 2 patwaris for taking ₹7 lakh bribe
An official spokesperson said that an FIR has been filed under sections 420, 465, 467, 468, 471 and 120-B of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) at the police station of VB’s economic offences wing, Ludhiana
The Vigilance Bureau (VB) arrested retired tehsildar Sandhura Singh of Moonak, Dharmaraj, patwari of Halqa Balran in Sangrur district, and retired patwari Bhagwan Das for soliciting bribe of ₹7 lakh in exchange for facilitating the illegal transfer and mutation of agricultural land.
An official spokesperson said that an FIR has been filed under sections 420, 465, 467, 468, 471 and 120-B of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) at the police station of VB’s economic offenses wing, Ludhiana. The VB have also booked patwari Mithu Singh of Balran of Sangrur and Balwant Singh, a private aide of the accused. The duo is yet to be arrested.
The spokesperson said that investigation revealed a fake mutation (number 10808) involving the exchange 25 Kanal 15 Marla, belonging to Gurtej Singh and others at Balran village with Balwant Singh’s land at Raipur village in Haryana’s Jhakhal tehsil. Dharmaraj received a bribe of ₹7 lakhs from Balwant Singh to execute the “fraudulent mutation”. Subsequently, Dharmaraj obtained approval for the mutation from Sandhura Singh (now retired) tehsildar, backdated to May 15, 2019 to match the entries in the jamabandi, which had a deadline of May 15, 2023.
The spokesperson highlighted the irregularities in the revenue records and said that the accused patwari failed to forward a copy of the mutation to the office of kanugo.
Investigation revealed that no family partition had occurred between Gurtej Singh and others and Balwant Singh, and the latter did not possess any land at Raisar. Balwant, claiming ownership of land since 1966, approached Dharmaraj to transfer ownership, who demanded ₹10 lakh.
The spokesperson added that after Dharmaraj’s transfer, Mithu Singh altered the complainant’s revenue records, fraudulently reducing their shares from 57 kanals 11 marlas to 31 kanals 16 marlas. This allowed the unlawful attachment/transfer of 25 kanals 15 marlas of land to Balwant. To conceal these acts, accused Mithu replaved pages 134 to 138 in the jamabandi register.
Gurtej Singh came to know about this and lodged a complaint. After this, Bhagwan Das made correction entry on July 18, 2022 but failed to reference a mutation dated July 18, 2022. The spokesperson added that an investigation was underway.
