Ex-Punjab official cooks the books for Rs 4 crore fraud

MOHALI: The police have booked a former senior executive director of estate division of Punjab Infotech for allegedly fabricating documents and tampering with files to extract Rs 4.12 crore in the name of interest from a plot buyer in a six-year-old case that got a fresh lease of life following an RTI revelation.
Sukhbir Singh Shergill, a resident of Phase III, Mohali, had accused R K Sangwan, the former senior executive director, of misusing his official position to cause a loss to him by tampering with official files of Punjab Infotech in 2011.It was only after he filed an RTI application in 2015 that strengthened his charges that the police intensified its probe culminating in the registering of the case against Sangwan.
Shergill in 2011 applied for the transfer of 50% share of a property — he had purchased in Industrial Area in an auction in 2000 and got it converted from leasehold to freehold in 2001 — in the name of his friends following which Sangwan raised the alleged illegal demand of transfer fee. Sangwan had allegedly directed his employees to prepare documents without any official stamp or signatures and inserted them in the file that mentioned that Rs 4.12 crore was to be recovered from Shergill.
G P Gupta and B K Sharma, officials working under Sangwan, admitted in their statement before the police that the sheet mentioning Rs 4.12 crore was not prepared as per facts and no outstanding amount was pending against Shergill.
Shergill, while speaking to TOI, said, "Sangwan was seeking revenge against me as I attempted to expose his wrongdoings by filing multiple letters to different departments before I purchased the plot. The transfer of my property took four years while others were transferred within two months by Sangwan." When the demand of Rs 4.12 crore was made, he was forced to sell his property in 2014 to pay the amount. He then later filed the RTI application. Replying to it, Infotech admitted, "There is no amount outstanding in our account books from 1995 to 2012 against the property of Shergill in Industrial Area."
Punjab Infotech director general manager Loveleen Kapoor said, "As per the bylaws of Punjab Infotech, there is no transfer fee applicable on the property and no outstanding liable payments payable by Shergill. And yes, there is cutting on the pages of the record filed and the pages are renumbered after cutting. But I cannot say which official did that as I have joined recently."
The police booked Sangwan under sections 465 (punishment for forgery), 466 (forgery of record of court or of public register), 467 (forgery of valuable security, will), 468 (forgery for purpose of cheating) and 471 (using as genuine a forged document or electronic record).
Punjab Infotech director general manager (accounts and estate management) G P Gupta said that the sheet mentioning Rs 4.12 crore was prepared by Anand Singh on the orders of R K Sangwan, the former senior executive director. "The sheet was not prepared as per the facts and no amount is pending against Shergill. Official documents were also tampered with," he said.
PLOT SALE MUDDLE
Original allottee of plot in Industrial Area takes loan of Rs 2.82 lakh from Punjab Financial Corporation (PFC) to pay Rs 12.92 lakh for it in 1986
Fails to repay loan amount; PFC cancels allotment
PFC hands over the plot to Punjab Infotech in 2000, but does not pay pending loan amount of Rs 2.82 lakh
Sukhbir Singh Shergill of Phase III buys the plot in auction for Rs 12.92 lakh in 2000
R K Sangwan, former senior executive director, tries to extract the Rs 2.82 lakh from Shergill by charging 19% interest on the amount from 1986 to 2013 after fabricating and tampering with documents
Shergill files complaint with police in 2015 after RTI reply proving that no amount was pending against him strengthens his case