Guava orchard scam: Man held for receiving ₹12 crore fraudulently, says VB
According to the Punjab Vigilance Bureau, the accused falsely proved presence of orchards on his land in Bakarpur village of Mohali district to claim land acquisition compensation from GMADA.
The Punjab Vigilance Bureau (VB) has apprehended Sukhdev Singh of Chandigarh, one of the key co-accused in the ‘guava orchard scam’ that took place in Bakarpur village in SAS Nagar district in 2016-17. The accused had fraudulently received approximately ₹12 crore in compensation in his and his wife’s accounts in “collusion with government officials and other individuals”. The amount has been recovered, according to the VB.
An official spokesperson of the VB said Sukhdev played an active role in the criminal conspiracy, indulging in cheating, forgery and falsification of records, thereby causing wrongful loss to the state exchequer while obtaining illicit financial gains through bribery.
The VB investigation has revealed that with the intent to claim compensation illegally for guava orchards during the land acquisition process for the Aerotropolis project in SAS Nagar, Sukhdev had purchased 3 kanal and 16 marlas of land in Bakarpur. Subsequently, he conspired with the prime accused, Bhupinder Singh of Bakarpur, to falsely establish the presence of fruit bearing guava orchards on the land. He further ensured the collusion of the horticulture development officer concerned to fraudulently assess and declare the trees as being over three years old, making them eligible for compensation under the fruit-yielding tree category.
According to the spokesperson, Sukhdev Singh and Bhupinder Singh had an agreement wherein Sukhdev Singh would bear all expenses including bribing officials while Bhupinder Singh would retain two-thirds of the compensation amount once it was fraudulently secured from the land acquisition collector, Greater Mohali Area Development Authority (GMADA), using bribes and personal influence.
He further informed that to facilitate the fraud, the original khasra girdawri revenue register (2016–2021) of the village was destroyed and a forged khasra girdawri register was prepared in 2019. Bhupinder, in connivance with revenue patwari Bachittar Singh, managed to manipulate the land records to falsely reflect the existence of mature guava orchards. Subsequently, Sukhdev Singh and his wife Harbinder Kaur fraudulently received ₹2,40,96,442 and ₹9,57,86,642, respectively, as compensation from the land acquisition collector.
The spokesperson further revealed that to transfer Bhupinder’s share out of the illegally obtained compensation, Sukhdev had sold approximately 6 bighas of land in Chappar Chiri village in SAS Nagar district at an undervalued rate to Bhupinder Singh in 2022 after receiving the wrongful compensation. Similarly, 32 kanals in Kailon village, SAS Nagar, owned by his wife Harbinder Kaur, was also sold at an undervalued price to Bhupinder Singh.
The spokesperson added that despite repeated summons by the VB, Sukhdev had been evading legal proceedings and was uncooperative during the investigation. Unlike other co-accused beneficiaries, he neither voluntarily surrendered the fraudulently obtained compensation amount nor sought anticipatory bail from the court by depositing the required sum in treasury.
He added that with the latest recovery of ₹12 crore, the total amount of compensation returned now would be ₹100 crore as ₹86 crore had already been deposited by other co-accused beneficiaries. So far, the VB has already arrested seven government officials and 16 private individuals in this scam and further investigation into the case is ongoing.