Two sarpanches, JE among 17 booked for embezzlement of funds

PATIALA: The Punjab vigilance bureau (VB) has booked 17 persons and 10 firms for misappropriation of panchayat funds received for the acquisition of land in five villages of Patiala district for the Amritsar-Kolkata Integrated Corridor Project.

A spokesperson said a case has been registered under Sections 406, 420, 409, 465, 467, 468, 471 and 120B of the IPC and Sections 13 (1) A and 13 (2) of the Prevention of Corruption Act against two sarpanches, eight panches, two panchayat secretaries, a junior engineer, 10 firms and four others.

The VB said the accused embezzled compensation amount received for the purchase of over 1,100 acres of land at Akari, Sehra, Sehri, Takhtumajra and Pabra villages, falling under the Ghanaur assembly segment in Rajpura tehsil of the district.

The spokesperson said Harjit Kaur, sarpanch of Akari village, Charanjit Kaur, panch, Avtar Singh, panch, Sukhwinder Singh, panch, Darshan Singh, panch, Kulwinder Kaur, panch, Jaswinder Singh, panchayat secretary posted in the BDPO office, Shambhu, besides Manjit Singh, sarpanch of Sehri village, Jatinder Rani, panch, Lakhveer Singh, panch, Pawandeep Kaur, panch, Lakhminder Singh, panchayat secretary, and Dharminder Kumar, JE, posted in the BDPO office, Shambhu, have been booked for misappropriation of funds.

The spokesperson said compensation amount to the tune of over ₹285 crore was given to the panchayats of five villages on account of the acquired land from 2019 to 2022. Apart from this, the cultivators were given displacement allowance of ₹97.8 crore at the rate of ₹9 lakh per acre, he said. Following complaints by villagers that development works were not done, a probe was initiated and it came to light that the accused embezzled the funds in connivance with panchayat department officials, added the spokesperson.