Complete EX-GMADA chief engineer trial within a year: HC to lower court
GRAFT CASE According to vigilance probe, Pehalwan, considered to be a blue-eyed officer of the Badals, allotted works of around ₹1,200 crore, at exorbitant rates; he was arrested in June 2017
JALANDHAR: The Punjab and Haryana high court (HC) has directed additional district and sessions court, Mohali, to finish its trial against former Greater Mohali Area Development Authority (GMADA) chief engineer Surinder Pal Singh, also known as ‘Pehalwan’, in an alleged multi-crore graft case within a year.
The order was issued on October 29.
The state vigilance bureau had arrested ‘Pehalwan’, an alleged favourite of the Badal family of the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) and considered their blue-eyed boy, on June 9, 2017. According to vigilance probe, Pehalwan allotted works of around ₹1,200 crore, at exorbitant rates. He is also accused of parking his black money in accounts of bogus firms and his family members.
COURT RULING
Justice Anil Kshetarpal, while denying regular bail to Pehalwan, on October 29, said in his order, “Keeping in view the allegations
PEHALWAN IS ACCUSED OF PARKING HIS BLACK MONEY IN ACCOUNTS OF BOGUS FIRMS AND HIS FAMILY MEMBERS
made, the court is of the view that in this case, it would be more appropriate to direct the court of sessions, where the trial is pending to conclude the trial positively within a period of one year.”
“The allegations against the petitioner are serious and the co-accused, who have been granted bail, have no parity with the case of the petitioner. Hence, the present petition (seeking regular bail) is disposed of with the directions,” the HC order concludes.
Pehalwan joined as a junior engineer in the Punjab Mandi Board in 1993. He became a superintending engineer in GMADA in 2014 and had been officiating as chief engineer there since 2016.
The case against him had been registered under Sections 420 (cheating), 506 (criminal intimidation), 120 B (criminal conspiracy) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and 13 (1) (d) read with 13 (2) of the Prevention of Corruption Act.
MORE VIGILANCE CASES
He also faces two more vigilance cases on disproportionate assets and for submitting a forged birth certificate for getting a government job, registered in 2017.