AIT scam: Next hearing on closure report on March 7

SAS NAGAR: A local court adjourned the hearing of the Amritsar Improvement Trust scam to March 7.

The court took up the closure report filed by Punjab vigilance department giving a clean chit to all the 18 accused (three of whom have died), including Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee chief Captain Amarinder Singh.

The vigilance bureau (VB), which had earlier filed a challan in the same court in 2009, was re-investigating the case on orders of the Punjab and Haryana high court and was to submit fresh findings to the trial court.

Already in December 2016, Shashi Lakhanpal Mishra, secretary, Punjab Vidhan Sabha, had told the court that they have no objection in case the cancellation report submitted by vigilance is accepted by the court.

In September 2008, the VB had registered an FIR under Sections 420 (cheating), 467/468 (forgery), 471 (using as genuine a forged document) and 120B (criminal conspiracy) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and relevant sections of the Prevention of Corruption Act at its police station in SAS Nagar.

The challan filed in February 2009 found all 18 accused allegedly involved in a scam that led to a loss of ₹360 crore to the state exchequer. However, charges were never framed against the accused.

In its second round of investigations, the VB found that there was ‘no undue favour granted to any developer or misuse of power’, while seeking that the FIR be cancelled against Captain Amarinder and 17 others.

CHALLAN FILED IN 2009 FOUND ALL 18 ACCUSED INVOLVED IN SCAM THAT LED TO A LOSS OF ₹360 CRORE. SECOND PROBE FOUND NOTHING WRONG