Chandigarh: The Punjab Vigilance Bureau has registered a case and issued a lookout notice against former Congress MLA Madan Lal Jalalpur in connection with an alleged land acquisition scam. An FIR has been registered against him in this case. It may be recalled that 1,103 acres of land belonging to five villages of Shambhu block, including Sehra, Sehri, Akari Taktumajra and Pabar, were acquired for the construction of the Amritsar-Kolkata Highway. After which, a compensation amounting to Rs 285 crore was granted to the villagers, who had given their plots, and another Rs 97 crore was allocated for the development of villages.
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Following complaints of embezzlement of funds and irregularities in connection with the money allotted to the villages, the Vigilance Bureau Patiala registered a case on May 26, 2022 and conducted investigations into the matter. Till date, cases have been registered against 34 people, including 10 private firms, in this connection. Investigations revealed that Jabalpur was reportedly involved in the scam. It was learnt that owner of a private firm has admitted of Jalalpur's involvement in this case.
Earlier, the Punjab Vigilance Bureau had arrested former forest minister Sadhu Singh Dharamsot in connection with alleged corruption in connection with issuing permits for transferring officials and issuance of NOCs and permits for Khair tree cutting. The State government had also given permission to the Punjab Vigilance Bureau to prosecute him in a competent court. In October, the bureau had arrested former minister and BJP leader Sunder Sham Arora on charges of giving a bribe of Rs 50 lakhs to its officer for clearing his name in the inquiries that were pending against him. Prior to this, Bharat Bhusan Ashu was also arrested in a separate case.
