SC TELLS EXSSP GREWAL TO SURRENDER
DECEMBER 2017 CASE Special leave petition dismissed; apex court says apply for the bail after surrender
PATIALA: The Supreme Court on Friday dismissed the bail petition of former Punjab senior superintendent of police (SSP) SS Grewal in a disproportionate assets case registered against him in December 2017. The apex court has directed Grewal to surrender before the court concerned and apply for bail accordingly.
His special leave petition has been dismissed. On March 16, the SC had heard Grewal’s bail plea and ordered interim stay on his arrest. He was also directed to join investigation before the Patiala vigilance bureau, which he did on April 2. The Patiala wing of the VB had conducted a inquiry against Grewal after a US-based NRI Sarabjit Singh complained to the bureau in 2015. An FIR was registered on December 21, 2017, in which Grewal is accused of indulging in corruption and misusing office during his service.
Vigilance SSP Jaspreet Singh Sidhu said, “Grewal had joined probe, but he was not cooperating. He had informed the court that Grewal’s immediate arrest is required to investigate the case. Now, he has no option but to surrender before the court concerned.” Grewal remained posted as SSP (vigilance) at Jalandhar and Ferozepur before being made SSP of Moga and then of Fazilka in 2012. He retired in 2014.
BNENAMI INVESTMENTS
In its report, the vigilance found Grewal of possessing assets worth six times his known income and found him making benami (proxy) investments in property. He also purchased 5kg gold at ₹1.5 crore and invested ₹1 crore in a private company in the name of a relative, it is alleged.
The VB claims to have found irregularities during scrutiny of Grewal’s property details of 15 years from April 1, 1999 to December 31, 2014. As per the FIR, the VB found that he had a net income of ₹2.1 crore in 15 years, but purchased properties (moveable and immovable) worth ₹12.2 crore in that period.
“Being a public servant with the Punjab Police, Grewal had misused his post and had spent way more than his income in 15 years, while making illegal assets through corrupt means,” the report reads.
The case was registered under relevant sections of the Prevention of Corruption Act.
The report further stated that during these years, Grewal made bank transactions of ₹70 lakh, including ₹36.5 lakh in the name of his son Jasjit Singh, and ₹19.5 lakh and ₹1.5 lakh in the names of his grandson and daughter-inlaw, at the co-operative bank in Kila Raipur village in Ludhiana. He allegedly deposited ₹9 lakh in the name of his son in a State Bank of India branch in the same village, as well as ₹4.4 lakh in the name of his wife, Jaswinder Kaur.
The report added that Grewal made investments in properties in the name of his son worth ₹1.3 crore and purchased 12 hectare of agricultural land and transferred it to his son.
He allegedly purchased land in the name of Jasjit’s father-in-law, too, for ₹65.1 lakh, besides purchasing residential plots in the names of his Sangrur-based relative for ₹85 lakh, and land in the name of another relative for ₹9.7 lakh. He is also accused of purchasing properties in the names of two of his relatives for ₹31 lakh and ₹25.4 lakh.