VB finds ex-SSP amassed properties worth 6 times his income, even bought 5kg gold
VB CLAIMS TO HAVE FOUND IRREGULARITIES DURING SCRUTINY OF GREWAL’S PROPERTY DETAILS OF 15 YEARS FROM APRIL 1, 1999, TO DECEMBER 31, 2014
PATIALA: Former senior superintendent of police (SSP) Surjit Singh Grewal, who was booked by the vigilance bureau for allegedly possessing assets worth six times his known income, had made benami (proxy) investments in property, says a report by the VB submitted in the district sessions court. He also purchased 5kg gold at Rs 1.5 crore and invested Rs 1 crore in industrial motors in the name of a relative, it is alleged.
Acting on a complaint by a US-based non-resident Indian (NRI) Sarabjit Singh filed to the VB chief director in 2015, the Patiala wing of the bureau conducted a detailed inquiry and registered a first-information report (FIR) on December 21 last, in which Grewal has been accused of indulging in corruption and misusing office during his service.
He 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.
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 Rs 2.12 crore in 15 years, but purchased properties (moveable and immovable) worth Rs 12.19 crore in that period.
DETAILS OF DEEDS
The report said that during these years, Grewal made bank transactions of Rs 70 lakh, including Rs 36.52 lakh in the name of his son Jasjit Singh, and Rs 19.55 lakh and Rs 1.48 lakh in the names of his grandson and daughter-in-law, at the co-operative bank in Kila Raipur village in Ludhiana district. He allegedly deposited Rs 8.96 lakh in the name of his son in a State Bank of India branch in the same village, as well as Rs 4.38 lakh in the name of his wife, Jaswinder Kaur.
The report further said that Grewal made investments in properties in the name of his son worth Rs 1.32 crore and even purchased 12 hectares of agricultural land and transferred it to his son.
He allegedly purchased land in the name of Jasjit’s father-in-law, too, for Rs 65.16 lakh, besides purchasing residential plots in the names of his Sangrur-based relative for Rs 85 lakh, and a chunk of land in the name of another relative for Rs 9.68 lakh. Further, it is alleged, that he purchased properties in the names of two of his relatives for Rs 31.06 lakh and Rs 25.41 lakh.
He purchased most of the properties in Kila Raipur and in Kotla Badla village in Fatehgarh Sahib, said the report.
“After collecting details, the VB called Grewal to explain his position and produce relevant documents regarding known source of income of such expenses, but the accused has failed to satisfy the VB and did not record his statement,” the agency reported to the court.
The case was registered under sections of the Prevention of Corruption Act and further investigation is under progress. The district court has already denied anticipatory bail to Grewal on January 4.
NOT NEW TO ROWS
In July 2014, a CBI court in Chandigarh had acquitted Grewal and seven other police officers in a 23-year-old case of alleged extrajudicial killing of Kulwinder Singh. Kulwinder’s father Tirlochan Singh, a retired principal of Khalsa School in Kharar, moved a plea in the high court against the acquittal.
In 2012, Grewal was indicted in an inquiry by KS Pannu, the then special secretary to the Punjab chief minister, in a case wherein a patwari, Mohan Singh, was falsely implicated in a corruption case. Pannu even recommended registration of an FIR against them, but that was not done.