Three booked for swindling aid for farmers

BHATINDA: Punjab vigilance bureau has registered a case against a trio of tehsildar, patwari and numberdar for alleged misappropriation of Rs 80,000 meant to be distributed among farmers as compensation for crop damage in 2013.
Those booked include: tehsildar Harsimran Singh, patwari Mohinder Singh and numberdar Lakhwinder Singh. Harsimran is posted at Moonak in Sangrur district.
During his posting in Faridkot, Punjab government had sent a grant of Rs 21.30 lakh for distribution among farmers at Mahmuana village of district, out of which Rs. 19.60 were deposited in various banks in the name of the tehsildar and Rs 1.70 lakh were returned. The revenue officers were alleged to have wrongly distributed nearly Rs 80,000 to ineligible persons. The vigilance bureau had started an inquiry on May 5, 2015, against the tehsildar and Mohinder and Lakhwinder, who were posted at Mahmuana.
They were booked under sections 409 (criminal breach of trust by public servant), 420 (cheating), 467 (forgery), 468 (forgery for purpose of cheating), 471 (using as genuine a forged document) and 120B (conspiracy) of the IPC and under the Prevention of Corruption Act.
Bathinda vigilance bureau senior superintendent of police (SSP) Gurmit Singh said the government had sent money for compensation to farmers for damage to crops in the 2013 kharif. "Out of Rs 80,000, which were found to be misappropriated, the revenue officers distributed part of it to ineligible persons and embezzled some of it.