A PCS officer and former SDM of Patti Dr. Anupreet Kaur Randhawa was arrested by Patti police in connection with an alleged land compensation scam linked to Jammu-Kashmir-Rajasthan National Highway project and according to reports the arrest was made from her official residence at around 7:00 AM on May 16.
Police sources said the case is related to alleged embezzlement of government compensation funds meant for land acquired for National Highway project and amount involved in this case is said to be around ₹1.63 crore.
The investigation in the matter is still ongoing and police are continuing further action and according to information available allegations date back to the period when Anupreet Kaur Randhawa was serving as SDM of Patti in Tarn Taran district and she has been accused of allegedly giving compensation benefits to people whose land was reportedly never acquired for National Highway project.
The matter first came to light after a complaint was submitted by Navraj Singh Brar who was the then SDM of Patti to the then Deputy Commissioner (DC) Pradeep Sabharwal on September 5, 2018 and in the complaint it was alleged that between January 9, 2018 and February 11, 2019 compensation money released by government for land acquisition was transferred into bank accounts of five people who were allegedly not eligible to receive it.
The individuals named in the case are Jasbir Kaur from Manawala in Amritsar, Rajwinder Kaur from Fatahpur Algo Mahmoodpura in Tarn Taran, Sartaj Singh from Kot Dasaundhi Mall, Bikramjit Singh from Hoshiar Nagar in Amritsar and Gurjit Kaur from Kot Dasaundhi Mall.
Based on the findings of inquiry FIR No. 47 was registered at City Patti Police Station on September 5, 2019 and the case was registered under Sections 419, 420, 409 and 120-B of Indian Penal Code which relate to cheating, criminal breach of trust, impersonation and criminal conspiracy and according to FIR records of Revenue Department showed that the land belonging to these five individuals was not acquired for National Highway-54 project and it was also stated that there was no official revenue record supporting their claims in the acquisition process.
Officials said that on July 5, 2013 Central Government had issued a Gazette notification regarding land acquisition for National Highway-54 in six villages under the Patti sub-division and these villages included Tatla, Harike, Nathupur, Buh, Marhana and Jauneke however during the investigation the names of five accused beneficiaries were reportedly not found in official acquisition notification and the inquiry further revealed that compensation amount was released after authorization allegedly carrying signatures of the then SDM Anupreet Kaur Randhawa and investigators believe this led to government money being deposited into accounts of ineligible persons without proper verification of official land records.
Following the allegations a committee headed by Deputy Commissioner was formed to investigate the matter and based on committee’s report Punjab Government had earlier suspended Dr. Anupreet Kaur Randhawa on orders of the then Chief Secretary Karan Avtar Singh and police officials have said that the investigation is still underway and more details may emerge as the case progresses.
