Chandigarh, February 12, 2025: Punjab Vigilance Bureau has arrested Sukhdev Singh, a resident of Chandigarh, co-accused in the 'Guava Orchard Scam' that took place in village Bakarpur, district S.A.S. Nagar in the year 2016-17. He had fraudulently obtained compensation of about Rs 12 crore in his and his wife's accounts in connivance with government employees and others.
Giving information in this regard, the spokesperson of the Vigilance Bureau said that Sukhdev Singh played a special role in this criminal conspiracy by committing fraud, forgery and tampering with government records, causing loss of crores of rupees to the government exchequer and the accused also obtained illegal financial benefits through bribery. In the investigation of the Vigilance Bureau in this regard, it was revealed that S.A.S. Accused Sukhdev Singh had purchased 3 Kanal 16 Marla land in village Bakarpur with an intention to illegally obtain higher compensation by claiming fake guava orchards during the process of land acquisition for Aerotropolis Project in the city.
Thereafter, he along with main accused Bhupinder Singh, a resident of village Bakarpur, hatched a conspiracy to show the existence of old guava orchards on the acquired land. He also connived with the concerned Horticulture Development Officer to fraudulently prove the trees to be more than three years old and eligible in the category of fruit bearing trees during valuation.
Giving details of the fraudulent scheme, the spokesperson said that there was an agreement between Sukhdev Singh and Bhupinder Singh under which Sukhdev Singh would bear all the expenses including bribing the employees, while Bhupinder Singh would retain two-third amount of the compensation fraudulently obtained from the Land Acquisition Collector (LAC), Greater Mohali Area Development Authority (GMADA) through bribery and his influence.
He further informed that the original Khasra Girdawari Mal Register (2016-2021) of village Bakarpur was destroyed so that the fraud could not be detected and a new fake Khasra Girdawari Register was prepared in 2019. Bhupinder Singh, in connivance with Mal Patwari Bachitar Singh, manipulated the land records to prove the existence of ripe guava orchards. Sukhdev Singh and his wife Harbinder Kaur thereafter fraudulently obtained Rs 2,40,96,442 and Rs 9,57,86,642 respectively from GMADA. The spokesperson further informed that in order to replace Bhupinder Singh's share in the illegally received compensation, Sukhdev Singh sold about 6 bighas of land in village Chapparchiri, District Mohali to Bhupinder Singh in the year 2022 at a low price. Similarly, 32 Kanal land owned by his wife Harbinder Kaur at village Kailo, Mohali was also sold to Bhupinder Singh at a low price. The spokesperson further said that despite repeated summons, Sukhdev Singh kept evading legal action and was not cooperating in the investigation. Like other beneficiary co-accused, he did not voluntarily deposit the fraudulently obtained compensation amount in the treasury and also did not seek anticipatory bail from the court.
He further said that till date, Rs 86 crore has been deposited by other co-accused and with the recovery of Rs 12 crore from this accused, the compensation amount to be refunded would reach Rs 100 crore. So far, a total of 7 government officials and 16 private persons have been arrested in this case and further investigation is in progress.