Man accused of using CM’s name for providing job lands in trouble

A Fazilka resident has landed in trouble for using the names of Punjab chief minister Parkash Singh Badal and the director general of police (DGP) in an alleged cheating case.

Even as the accused claimed before the Punjab and Haryana high court that the matter had been settled, the court dismissed his plea for quashing the first information report (FIR) and also denied anticipatory bail to him.

The petitioner, Amandeep Kamboj of Fazilka in Punjab, had allegedly demanded `25 lakh from the complainant’s friend, a Kharar resident, promising a job as a sub-inspector in Punjab Police. The first instalment of `13 lakh was given to the accused and the complainant, Amandeep Kaur, who also belongs to Fazilka and knew Kamboj, stood as a surety. The accused claimed that he was “close” to the CM and was “like a son” to the DGP, and promised a job in the police to the complainant’s friend.

“In my considered view, the FIR in question cannot be quashed on the basis of a compromise. As the petitioner named the CM and higher officials of the state government, the dispute cannot be stated to be private in nature. The matter may require a thorough probe... as the investigating agency may have to unravel the entire modus operandi of the crime,” the high court bench of justice Rajan Gupta said in its order dismissing the plea of FIR quashing.

The matter came to light in July when the complainant approached the Fazilka police after alleged threats from Kamboj. The cheques given by the accused also turned out to be fake, as per the complainant.

As per the FIR, after taking `13 lakh, the accused and his father, Bhagwan Dass, convinced the complainant to give another `20 lakh and struck a deal that they would give her a plot in SAS Nagar having a market value of around `90 lakh. The complaint had told the police that she was shown a 10 marla plot following which she paid `20 lakh to the accused. The complainant got suspicious in May when she came to know that Kabmoj was in jail owing to some criminal complaint, the FIR says. Amandeep approached Kamboj and asked for her money, but he allegedly started threatening her claiming that he had links with the “underworld”.

The police had opposed bail as well as the FIR quashing plea claiming that Kamboj was being investigated in other criminal cases as well and a special investigation team had been formed to crack the case.