Govt reinstates suspended BDPO declared PO by court
CORRUPTION CHARGES Jaspreet is accused of embezzling ₹58.55 lakh village grant along with Dhurkot village sarpanch Sarabjit Kaur and panchayat secretary Karam Singh
MOGA/JALANDHAR: A suspended block development and panchayat officer (BDPO) Jaspreet Singh, who was booked for corruption and was later declared proclaimed offender (PO) by a court has been reinstated in the same post at Fatehgarh Churian.
Fatehgarh Churian is in rural development and panchayat minister Tript Rajinder Bajwa’s constituency. The development came after Bajwa personally intervened into the matter and got him reinstated, senior administrative officials said.
Jaspreet was suspended after Hindustan Times published a report on May 7, 2017, in which it was revealed that the BDPO, Dhurkot village sarpanch Sarabjit Kaur and panchayat secretary Karam Singh had embezzled ₹58.55 lakh grant.
A case was registered against the trio under Sections 409 (criminal breach of trust by public servant, or by banker, merchant or agent) and 120-B (criminal conspiracy) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and Section 13 (2) of the Prevention of Corruption Act at Ajitwal police station in Moga on September 6, 2017.
Police had managed to arrest Karam Singh, while Jaspreet and Sarabjit were declared PO by the court after their anticipatory bail was rejected and police had failed to nab them.
“Accused Jaspreet and Sarabjit were declare PO by the court after two months. Police was trying to nab them while challan was produced in court against panchayat secretary,” said Nihal Singh Wala deputy superintendent of police (DSP) Subeg Singh.
Gurdaspur district development and panchayat officer (DDPO) Harjinder Singh Sandhu, confirming the reinstatement, said that Jaspreet got posted at Fatehgarh Churian about month ago.
Cabinet minister Tript Rajinder Bajwa, acknowledging the fact he got the Jaspreet reinstated after the latter plead mercy, said, “We have warned him that if he commits any fraud in future, action will be initiated against him.”
“I reinstated him on the condition that if he is found guilty, he will undergo the punishment,” the minister said.
On being informed that Jaspreet is a declared PO, the minister said that he was unaware of this fact and ‘if it’s true, police should arrest him’.
Meanwhile, BDPO Jaspreet and rural development and panchayat department secretary Anurag Verma were unavailable for comments, despite repeated attempts.
THE CASE
Last year, Dhurkot village in Moga block-1 had received a grant of ₹71 lakh from the government in the form of compensation as the common land was acquired for four-laning of the Jalandhar-Barnala stretch.
Of the ₹71 lakh, this year between January 1 and March 31, over ₹57 lakh was withdrawn from the panchayat account. It was shown that the amount was spent on development works. But not a single penny was spent on any development project.
The entire amount was reportedly spent when model code of conduct was in force. But no official is allowed to withdraw even a single penny from the government exchequer for any purpose in this period.
BDPO WAS SUSPENDED IN ANOTHER CASE TOO
BDPO Jaspreet Singh was suspended for the first time on March 22, 2017, after HT had reported an embezzlement of ₹26.6 lakh at Ramuwala Kalan village panchayat.
Besides Jaspreet, the state rural development and panchayat department had also suspended Moga-1 panchayat secretary Rajwant Singh and directed retired IAS officer RC Nayyar to probe the matter. This scam was also committed when the model code of conduct was in force.