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'No
vendetta' system in full play: Amarinder, Chahal in London, Virk
fears arrest, Jagjit disappears, VB is all over
WSN Bureau
CHANDIGARH: After days of shouting from
every stage available that "vendetta" will not be the policy of the
Akali Dal-BJP government, the sleuths of the much-maligned Vigilance
Bureau filed an FIR against former CM Amarinder Singh, his close
associate Chowdhry Jagjit Singh who was a powerful minister in the
previous regime, former Congress president H S Hanspal and a few
others for an alleged multi-million scam in Ludhiana City Centre
venture.
Raids were conducted on the residence of Jagjit Singh in his village
in Jalandhar. Amarinder Singh called up nearly a dozen journalists
individually to say he hasn't run away to London to escape and will
be back. He said he was responsible for all decisions and Badal
should come after him. The rest of the Congress seemed dithering on
the issue of rushing to Amarinder's support, and Hanspal said he had
quit the top party post in the state much before the project took
off.
The "no vendetta" claims of Akali Dal-BJP notwithstanding, the
government also seemed fast moving for the kill against Bharat Inder
Singh Chahal, the tormentor-in-chief of the Akalis in the last
regime. He is alleged to have been the beneficiary of land allotment
in the name of Dasmesh Trust. The allotment was made by the
Jalandhar Improvement Trust then headed by Tejinder Bittu, who had
unsuccessfully fought the Assembly election against Manoranjan Kalia
now a minister. No wonder, it is Kalia who had raised the issue of
the Dasmesh Trust. Chahal, who slipped unnoticed to Scotland, has
claimed he is not well. Amarinder too has claimed he is in London
for medical check up.
Former DGP S S Virk also seemed to be next on the list and he has
unsuccessfully approached the courts to seek an anticipatory bail.
Virk's brother got concessions worth Rs 2.5 billion for a
resort-cum-mall complex near Chandigarh.
If ruling Akali Dal sources are to be believed, most of the projects
that make up Amarinder Singh's claim of getting investments worth Rs
1 trillion during his regime are now under the scanner. The case
registered against Amarinder Singh and 17 others puts bribe -
allegedly received during Ludhiana City Centre allotments - at a
whopping Rs 1 billion.
The complaint states that Rs 1 billion was paid in bribe by the
company awarded the contract and that the money went into the
Congress kitty in New Delhi. Vigilance officials have visited the
homes of all the accused and arrested two officials of Today's Homes
and Infrastructure - the company awarded the project.
Amarinder wrote to Badal saying he was responsible for all decisions
of his government and none of his ministers and associates should be
troubled.
For the record, Akali Dal acting president and MP Sukhbir Singh
Badal, the man clearly behind the probes against the previous
Congress government, said: "The law will take its own course. We are
not resorting to political vendetta."
The developments seem a mirro image of the times when Amarinder
Singh got corruption cases registered against Badal, his wife and
son Sukhbir in 2002. The father and son were jailed for a few days
following the charges.
28 March 2007
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