Punjab Vigilance Bureau today registered a corruption case against two former Sarpanchs of village Kotla Suleman, District Fatehgarh Sahib, two Junior Engineers posted at BDPO office Fatehgarh Sahib along with a Panchayat Secretary of Rural Development Department. In this connection, a criminal case has been registered under various sections for embezzlement of funds to the tune of Rs 20.67 lakhs and misappropriating measurement book of the gram Panchayat worth Rs. 2.86 Crore.Disclosing this here today, a spokesperson of Punjab Vigilance Bureau said that a FIR no 10 has been registered against former Sarpanch Tarlochan Singh of village Kotla Suleman, District Fatehgarh Sahib, Panch Ranjodh Singh and two Junior Engineers Lalit Goyal and Lukesh Thamman posted at BDPO office Fatehgarh Sahib along with Panchayat Secretary Pavitar Singh under sections 409, 201, 120B of IPC and 13(1) A & 13(2) of Prevention of Corruption Act for embezzling Rs. 20.67 lakh in the Gram Panchayat funds at VB police station Patiala on 25-05-2022.
He revealed that during the investigation of the complaint no 65/2019, it has came to light that Tarlochan Singh was the Sarpanch of Gram Panchayat Kotla Suleman before the working Punch Ranjodh Singh. During the tenure of Tarlochan Singh, Indian Railways had acquired the Panchayat land of Village Suleman and Gram Panchayat received an amount of Rs. Rs. 4,18,00000 and the total amount in the panchayat account was Rs. 4,20,25,000 including from other sources.He further added that out of this amount, Rs. 2,86,25000 have been spent by Tarlochan Singh on the development works in the village and Rs. 1,34,00,000 were left in the Panchayat bank account by Tarlochan Singh. The remaining amount was spent by Ranjodh Singh on village development works but Mr. Tarsem Lal, Executive Engineer of PWD, Jalandhar has prepared a report which depicts that financial loss to the tune of Rs. 27,59,538 had occurred after investigating the work done by Ranjodh Singh in the village Suleman.
The spokesperson informed that work carried out during the tenure of Ranjodh Singh in the Village Kotla Suleiman was checked by Vigilance Bureau team, along with Technical Team. According to the final report of the VB technical team a scam of Rs. 20,67,068 have been found from 05-01-2018 to 13-07-2018 in the name of development works which was done by Ranjodh Singh incumbent Punch in connivance with Lukesh Thamman JE and Pavitar Singh, Panchayat Secretary.Sharing more details, he said that according to the report of the technical team, the Gram panchayat of village Kotla Salman had to get the technical approval before carrying out any development works because the quantity and rate of the material have to be approved on the basis of technical report. However, technical approval was not taken by Lukesh Thamman JE and Pavitar Singh Panchayat Secretary in connivance with Ranjodh Singh, a former Punch.
Apart from this, Lalit Goyal JE posted during the tenure of Tarlochan Singh, former Sarpanch, was repeatedly asking for measurement book to check the development works in the village Kotla Suleiman.
However, Lalit Goyal JE did not produced his measurement book even after repeated requests during the investigation nor did Lalit Goyal JE submitted the measurement book to the department. By misusing his official position, Lokesh Thamman JE has commenced development works in the village Kotla Suleiman with a new measurement book without informing the concerned BDPO office. The spokesperson further stated that after investigation, it has came to fore that Ranjodh Singh, former Panch, Tarlochan Singh, former Sarpanch of village Kotla Suleiman and Lalit Goel JE, Lukesh Thamman JE, Pavitar Singh Panchayat Secretary of BDPO office Fatehgarh Sahib in connivance with other has embezzled the amount to the tune of Rs. 20,67,068 which was received from railways on account of purchasing the land worth Rs. 4,20,25000 by tempered the measurement book of worth Rs. 2,86,25000. Due to this, further investigation is under progress after registering the case against these officials.