VB clean chit to Captain in Ludhiana city centre scam

LUDHIANA: More than 10 years after filing an FIR, the Punjab vigilance bureau (VB) on Saturday gave a clean chit to Captain Amarinder Singh, now chief minister, and 30 other accused in the Ludhiana City Centre scam.

The clean chit comes barely 10 months after the VB filed a cancellation report in the Amritsar Improvement Trust case in which Amarinder is an accused.

Launched in 2006, the Ludhiana City Centre project was to have multiplexes, malls and leisure parks. The VB submitted the cancellation report for “want of strong evidence” in the court of sessions judge Gurbir Singh.

“The VB has filed a closure report as no concrete evidence could be found against the accused,” defence counsel Tirlok Sood said. The next hearing in the case is on September 2.

The vigilance bureau is under the CM and headed by one of his trusted officers, ADGP BK Uppal. The state vigilance had

registered the FIR in March 2007 under various sections of the IPC and Prevention of Corruption Act just after the SAD-BJP combine came to power.

Other than Amarinder, his son Raninder Singh, son-in-law Raminder Singh, former state Congress chief HS Hanspal, former local bodies minister Choudhary Jagjit Singh and then chairman of the Ludhiana Improvement Trust, Wg Cdr (retd) Paramjit Singh Sibia were among the accused. The VB had accused then CM Amarinder and his team of “diluting” the terms and conditions to favour a Delhibased company, Today Homes, which derived benefits worth Rs 1,144 crore.

In December 2007, the VB had filed a 130-page chargesheet before a Ludhiana court naming Amarinder and 35 others. Of these, four accused, including Chaudhary Jagjit, are now dead. Jagjit and Sibia were accused of receiving bribes for concessions granted to Today Homes, whose managing director GK Gambhir,was also booked by the VB. When contacted, district attorney Ravinder Abrol said they will pursue the case further.

“I was not present at the court during Saturday’s hearing. I can comment after receiving a copy of the VB report,” he added.