ED raids Punjab excise commissioner, Ferozepur DC in ₹137-cr guava scam

ED officials picking up torn documents outside Punjab excise and taxation commissioner Varun Roojam’s residence in Sector 20 Chandigarh on Wednesday.

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Wednesday raided over 20 locations across Punjab, including the houses of state excise and taxation commissioner Varun Roojam, a 2004-batch IAS officer, and Ferozepur deputy commissioner Rajesh Dhiman, a 2014-batch IAS officer, in connection with a money-laundering case linked to the ₹137-crore guava orchard compensation scam.

Premises in Chandigarh, Mohali, Patiala, Ferozepur and Bathinda were raided by the federal probe agency under provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), sources said.

The ED case was registered after the federal agency took cognisance of a Punjab Vigilance Bureau (VB) FIR pertaining to embezzlement of ₹137 crore released as compensation for guava orchards on land acquired by the Greater Mohali Area Development Authority (GMADA) at Bakarpur village. The VB had registered the case in Mohali on May 2, 2023, and arrested 21 out of 33 accused. The role of more senior officials is being probed, sources said.

The names of Dr Sumanpreet Kaur and Jasmine Kaur Dhiman, the wives of Varun Roojam and Rajesh Dhiman, are listed among 18 beneficiaries who got handsome compensation wrongfully in lieu of the land acquired by GMADA at Bakarpur village.

It was alleged that Roojam, who was then the Markfed chairman, had invested in the orchard through his family members on the persuasion of Rajesh Dhiman, the then additional chief administrator (ACA) of GMADA.

Though ED officials were tightlipped, a senior directorate official confirmed that incriminating documents were found dumped in a garbage bin near Roojam’s house in Sector 20, Chandigarh, while the raids were on.

“We had sought records pertaining to the scam from GMADA as the Sections invoked under the IPC and the Prevention of Corruption Act are scheduled offences under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act,” an ED official said.

“The accused colluded with officials of the state horticulture and land revenue departments, wrongfully obtaining compensation for guava orchards from the government for which they were not entitled. There are more than 100 beneficiaries who were wrongfully compensated from 2016-20,” an official said.

According to the FIR, Bhupinder Singh, a resident of Bakarpur and a property dealer, in connivance with officials/employees of GMADA, revenue and horticulture departments, along with his colleagues Mukesh Jindal and Vikas Bhandari started planting guava orchards on the agriculture land by getting land on general power of attorney.

The accused prepared fake revenue documents, the VB probe found.

Main accused Bhupinder Singh had taken a compensation of ₹23.79 crore for guava plantations for himself and his family, while Dhiman’s wife was paid a compensation of ₹1.17 crore. Mukesh Jindal of Bathinda took a compensation of ₹13.93 crore, while Patiala-based chartered accountant Anil Arora was paid ₹1.14 crore as compensation.

The VB arrested horticulture development officer Jaspreet Singh Sidhu, who was then posted at Kharar and Dera Bassi, in January this year.

The Punjab and Haryana high court had ordered the accused beneficiaries to deposit a total of ₹72.36 crore in September last year of which ₹43.72 crore has been deposited till January 30 this year.

Deep-rooted conspiracy: How private persons colluded with govt officials to obtain compensation

It all started when the government started acquiring land in Bakarpur village in 2016-17. Senior officers and other private persons close to government officials, especially those in GMADA, started purchasing land in these villages. The accused knew that they could get higher compensation if they showed it to be an orchard. To get enhanced compensation, they started planting 2,000 to 2,500 plants per acre. This is way higher than the Punjab Agricultural University recommendations, which states that a maximum of 132 guava trees can be planted in an acre. The accused, through false revenue records and false reports, projected that the trees were planted in 2016 when these were planted in 2018. During vigilance investigation, it came to fore that the key conspirators Bhupinder Singh, Vikas Bhandari, Vishal Bhandari, Mukesh Jindal had personal relations with GMADA officials. As Rajesh Dhiman, the husband of accused Jasmin Kaur, was a senior officer at GMADA then, they knew that land of different villages is going to be acquired.

The role of Bakarpur patwari Bachittar Singh was also found. He had allegedly helped forge revenue records to show that the guava trees were planted in 2016 even as the plantations were done when the notification process was underway.

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