The vigilance will interrogate 3 IAS officers and 2 former ministers in the 1200 Crores scam that surfaced in the Punjab State irrigation department during the Akali-BJP alliance.
The investigation spree in the case will begin with former bureaucrat Kahan Singh Pannu on October 18th. During the period when this scam surfaced Pannu was serving as the department’s Principal Secretary.
The move came after Punjab CM Bhagwant Mann gave his nod to investigate the persons involved which include 2 former ministers, Sharanjit Singh Dhillon, and Janmeja Singh Sekhon, and three IAS officers Sarvesh Kaushal, Karanbir Singh Sidhu, including Pannu.
The allegation under which the following case hovers is that Pannu has green signaled over 4 tenders worth crores to Millionaire contractor Gurinder Singh in the past 10 years. Gurinder Singh’s company was worth 4.75 crores in 2006 which became 300 crores in 2010.
After the scam came to light, the pension, and allowances of the three IAS were stopped. With the approval of the CM for questioning, the file was sent to the Chief Secretary's office for further action. Vigilance has prepared a list of extensive questions which will be taken up to grill the three officers.
In the meeting of the top officers of the Vigilance Bureau held on Saturday, it was decided to first call the then Principal Secretary, retired IAS officer Kahan Singh Pannu, who will be interrogated at the Vigilance Bureau headquarters in Mohali.
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The responsibility of interrogation has been assigned to 2 AIG, 2 DSPs, and 1 Inspector rank officer. For this, the CM approved the inquiry on the report of the committee. LoC has been issued to prevent all three from escaping abroad.
Contractor Gurinder Singh had told Vigilance that the three IAS were given a commission of Rs 21 crore and both the ministers were given a commission of Rs 10 crore.
Gurinder had his connections in the Irrigation Department with all the top brass officers. The initial investigations also revealed that officers of his choice were appointed into the designated posts.