In a money laundering case involving revenue officials and others for misallocating shares of shamlat (panchayat) land of village Seonk, SAS Nagar, Punjab to the tune of more than 99 acres in the name of ineligible villagers and in some cases, even outsiders, the Directorate of Enforcement (ED) has provisionally attached properties worth Rs. 8 Crore of Varinder Pal Singh Dhoot, the then Naib Tehsildar. Residential buildings are among the properties, and they are located in Punjab’s Chandigarh and Hoshiarpur.
On the basis of a FIR filed by the Punjab Vigilance Bureau under various sections of the Indian Penal Code and the Prevention of Corruption Act, the ED opened an investigation. The claims against the accused Varinder Pal Singh Dhoot and others were confirmed in a chargesheet that the Vigilance Bureau submitted in the aforementioned FIR.
Investigations have shown that Varinder Pal Singh Dhoot and other revenue officials, while drafting the Intkal, made fake allotments of panchayat land in the names of six villages.
These villagers later granted the private property dealers power of solicitors, and using those powers of solicitors, the private property dealers sold panchayat land to ineligible villagers and some outsiders in collusion with revenue authorities. The private property sellers and revenue authorities split the sale proceeds among themselves, providing a small sum to the villagers who provided the power of solicitors as well.
When bank accounts kept by Varinder Pal Singh Dhoot in his and his family members’ names were examined as part of the investigation, inexplicable credits totaling more than Rs 15 crore, including cash credits of over Rs 8 crore during the relevant period, were discovered. Additionally, it came to light during the investigation that Varinder Pal Singh Dhoot had received money in the bank accounts of his family members from the friends and relations of the eventual buyer and/or beneficial owners of the panchayat land. Additionally, the majority of the payment for the sale of panchayat land was made in cash.
Earlier, on April 20, 2023, the ED detained Varinder Pal Singh Dhoot. He is currently in judicial custody. There is still more to look into.
