Vigilance Bureau arrests District Forest Officer for accepting bribe

Vigilance Bureau arrests District Forest Officer for accepting bribe

Nabaz-e-Punjab Bureau, Chandigarh/Mohali, June 2:
Punjab Vigilance Bureau today arrested District Forest Officer SAS Nagar Gurmanpreet Singh and Contractor Harminder Singh @ Hammi for accepting a bribe of Rs. 2,00,000 in lieu of favoring Davinder Singh Sandhu owner of the company, WWICS Estate Pvt. Ltd. at Village Masaul and Tanda, District Mohali for his projects. In this regard, a case has been registered against Guramanpreet Singh, DFO, and Harmahinder Singh @ Hammi, Contractor  u/s 7, 7-A of the Prevention of Corruption Act 1988 and Section 120-B of IPC.

Disclosing this here on Thursday, a spokesperson of the Vigilance Bureau (VB) said the complainant Davinder Singh Sandhu and his father Baljit Singh Sandhu owns around 100 acres of land in the name of their company WWICS Estate Pvt. Ltd. at Village Masaul and Tanda, Sub-Division Majri, District Mohali and some part of above said land falls under Section 4 of Punjab Land Preservation Land Act, 1900.

He informed that a complaint was moved by Ranjodh Singh, Forest Range officer SAS Nagar against Baljit Singh Sandhu on 24.04.2022 before Police Station Nayagaon. In this regard, complainant Davinder Singh Sandhu, Ranjodh Singh, Forest Range Officer, and Aman Patwari met Harmahinder Singh @ Hammi, Forest contractor at his private office where Ranjodh Singh disclosed that the above-said complaint was moved by him on the asking of Guramanpreet Singh DFO and Vishal Chauhan, Conservator of Forests (Vanpal) and asked the complainant to meet them.

He further revealed that  Harmahinder Singh @ Hammi, Forest contractor contacted telephonically Davinder Singh Sandhu and stated him to reach his private office situated at Sector 74, Mohali along with one packet of Rs.2,00,000 to meet Guramanpreet Singh DFO on 30.04.2022. Davinder Singh Sandhu went to the office of Harmahinder Singh @ Hammi and he switched on his device of video recording. “Harmahinder Singh @ Hammi stated to Davinder Singh Sandhu that in case you earned Rs 1,00,00000/- (One Crore) from the farmhouse then out of that he should give Rs.90,00,000/- (Ninety Lacs) to DFO”, he added.

Sharing more details, the spokesperson said that on the asking of Harmahinder Singh @ Hammi, Davinder Singh Sandhu handed over the packet containing Rs. 2,00,000/- to Guramanpreet Singh, DFO which was retained by him. The above-said conversation/proceedings were recorded by Davinder Singh Sandhu and saved on his device. Later on, when the complainant refused to accede to their demand then FIR No. 39 dated 09.05.2022 u/s 4, 5 Punjab Land Preservation Land Act, 1900 was registered against the father of the complainant and employee of his company at Police Station, Nayagaon.

On the basis of the above said allegations, FIR No.6 Dated 02.06.2022 u/s 7, 7-A of the Prevention of Corruption Act 1988 as amended by Prevention of Corruption Act and Section 120-B of IPC against Guramanpreet Singh, DFO, and Harmahinder Singh @ Hammi, Contractor has been registered by the VB. The role of Ranjodh Singh, Forest Range officer,  Aman Patwari, and Vishal Chauhan, Conservator of Forests (Vanpal) would be investigated during the course of investigations of this case, he added.