The case of embezzlement of crores of rupees from the Panchayat Samiti due to the negligenceconnivance of ADC Ferozepur came to light

Mohali, 06 October: Social worker Sukhpal Singh Gill, retired Panchayat Secretary, held a press conference at Mohali Press Club today and told the journalists that there was an embezzlement of Rs. 1,80,87,591/- in the Panchayat Samiti Ferozepur. This embezzlement took place due to the negligence/connivance of Arun Sharma, Additional Deputy Commissioner (RD) Ferozepur, who was posted in district Ferozepur at that time. 
To investigate this matter, the department constituted an investigation committee of two officers, Divisional Deputy Director Rural Development and Panchayat Jalandhar and District Development and Panchayat Officer Bathinda. The investigation committee had sent its investigation report to the Honorable Additional Secretary, Rural Development and Panchayat Department, Government of Punjab through letter SA1/2024/4383 dated 10/12/2024 from its office.
 According to the report received from NIC Delhi during the investigation, the maker and checker used in this case were used in the name of Kirandeep Kaur, Sarpanch, Gram Panchayat, Column Wala-324 and Mrs. Jaswinder Kaur, Sarpanch, Gram Panchayat, Basti Bhane Wali instead of BDPO Kirandeep Kaur and Chairperson Jaswinder Kaur and the used donglas have been approved by the Additional Deputy Commissioner (RD) Office, Ferozepur. 
According to the report received from NIC Delhi, these douglas were approved on 01.05.2024. While 01.05.2024 was a government holiday for Labor Day and Kirandeep Kaur had left the charge as BDPO on 31.01.2024. The ID created on the e-Gram Swaraj of Additional Deputy Commissioner (RD) Ferozepur (Zilla Parishad) has the mobile number of Mrs. Jaspreet Kaur Data Entry Operator 87250-31339 registered on it. 
But at that time, the Block Development and Panchayat Officer, Ferozepur, registered an FIR No. 434/2024 at the Police Station City Ferozepur against Kirandeep Kaur BDPO, Jaswinder Kaur Chairperson Panchayat Samiti Ferozepur, Manjinder Singh Data Entry Operator, Rekha Devi Data Entry Operator, Subhdeepak Bajaj Data Entry Operator, Jaspreet Kaur Zilla Parishad Ferozepur Data Entry Operator at the Police Station City Ferozepur. But unfortunately, the name of Arun Sharma, who approved two fake donglas on a day off from his office, is not registered anywhere in this FIR.
The investigating officer also writes in his investigation report that during the investigation, statements of all the employees concerned were taken and all of them were questioned, but no employee clarified the situation on the spot, but an attempt was made to confuse the matter. 
It is also clear that the role of e-Panchayat employees is the same in this embezzlement because IDs were made in the name of Kirandeep Kaur Sarpanch and Jaswinder Kaur Sarpanch and their IDs have been used as fake IDs and both these fakes were approved by the office of Dongla Additional Deputy Commissioner (RD) Ferozepur which also proves collusion. 
Therefore, in the end, the committee once again recommended that the investigation of the said case be immediately handed over to the police department.
Sukhpal Singh Gill said that it is possible that somewhere Arun Sharma, despite being a criminal due to the illegal use of his authority/power, did not allow his name to be included in the FIR to protect himself. While the text of the investigation report of the investigation committee "The fact that these two fake documents were approved by the office of Additional Deputy Commissioner (RD) Ferozepur also proves collusion" directly indicates that Arun Sharma is the main culprit in the embezzlement of Rs. 1,80,87,591/- from the Panchayat Samiti Ferozepur.
Sukhpal Singh Gill demanded from the Chief Minister of Punjab and Panchayat Minister Taranpreet Singh Saudh that Arun Sharma, Additional Deputy Commissioner (RD) Ferozepur, recently posted as Deputy Director Rural Development and Panchayat Department, should be immediately suspended from his high post and strict legal action should be taken against him by the Vigilance Department or ED. He said that this matter is not only a financial scam, but also a big question mark has been put on the security and transparency of the entire digital system.