Chandigarh, July 15 : The Punjab Vigilance Bureau unearthed a recruitment scam in which four accused persons have been apprehended and recovered bribe money amounting to Rs 50,000 from the accused during the trap. The accused Pirthipal Singh Multipurpose Health (MPH) worker, posted at Primary Health Center (PHC), village Dhotian, Tarn Taran district, his aide Malkiat Singh of village Varpal, Amritsar district, kingpin Sukhwant Singh Ludhiana and Harpal Singh Sarpanch Village Kad Gill, Tarn Taran district have been arrested.
Disclosing this here today, the Chief Director-cum-D.G.P of Vigilance Bureau Punjab B.K. Uppal said the complainant Barinderpal Singh resident of Mohalla Jaswant Singh Nagar, Tarn Taran city has alleged that suspect Pirthipal Singh MPH worker, PHC, village Dhotian Tarn Taran district is known to him and had offered to get him recruited on a government job. The complainant informed that he had not shown interest in the offer, rather, he asked Pirthipal Singh to get his relative Harmandeep Singh of village Chak Sikander, Tarn Taran district recruited on the said job.
He further informed that thereafter, Pirthipal Singh took the complainant Barinderpal Singh to Malkiat Singh, who introduced himself as an employee of personnel department Punjab and both the persons demanded a bribe of Rs.3,50,000 from complainant for this recruitment and demanded an advance amount of Rs.1,75,000.
Vigilance chief further stated that accused Pirthipal Singh had already taken a bribe of Rs.10,000 from the complainant on 05.07.2021. Subsequently, the complainant received a phone call from Pirthipal Singh, wherein, he demanded advance money Rs. 1,75,000 for initiating the recruitment process. Further, Pirthipal Singh told the complainant that if he doesn’t have arrangement of full amount then he could pay Rs. one lakh or Rs. 50,000 only.
In addition to this, B.K Uppal revealed that the complainant did not want to get his relative recruited in Government job by paying a bribe but he wanted to unearth this whole scam. Therefore, the complainant approached Vigilance Bureau range Amritsar and told that the accused Pirthipal Singh and Malkiat Singh were demanding another installment of Rs. 50,000 from him.
Thereupon, a trap was laid by Harjinder Singh, DSP VB Unit Tarn Taran and Prithipal Singh MPH worker and Malkiat Singh were apprehended red handed, while accepting the bribe amount of Rs.50,000 from the complainant in presence of two witnesses. In the regard a case under prevention of corruption act has been registered against the above said accused.
DGP vigilance further highlighted that during the investigation the accused Pirthipal Singh MPH worker and his accomplice Malkiat Singh of village Varpal, Amritsar district have revealed that Sukhwant Singh presently residing and operating from Ludhiana is the kingpin of their gang, involved in fraudulent duping of common people on pretext of recruitment in various Government departments. Besides the accused have disclosed that they have charged Rs. 3.5 lakh from the complainant for recruitment of his relative as Helper in PSPCL and out of this amount, his accomplice Sukhwant Singh would have got Rs. 3 lakh, whereas Prithipal Singh and Malkiat Singh have got Rs. 25,000 each.
He further disclosed that previously, Malkiat Singh and the kingpin Sukhwant Singh, had duped one Harpreet Singh of village Mallian, Amritsar district of Rs. 1.50 lakh, on pretext of recruitment as Helper in PSPCL at Ludhiana. Notably, Malkiat Singh further revealed that Harpal Singh Sarpanch of Village Kad Gill, Tarn Taran district is also operating as an agent of the kingpin in Amritsar and Tarn Taran districts.
Uppal added that Malkiat Singh has further revealed that in the year 2019, he had got 4 persons recruited in BSF by getting their written test and medical examination cleared through Dominic Sahota, who introduced himself as Assistant Commandant of BSF. In this case they had taken Rs.2,80,000 from each aspirant, and Dominic Sahota kept Rs. 2.5 lakh per head with him and gave Rs.30,000 per head to Malkiat Singh.
Moreover, during investigation, it transpired that Dominic Sahota is the Kingpin of the gang of kidnappers and robbers busted by Mohali Police in January, 2021, who posed as officer in National Investigation Agency, BSF and other elite security agencies, Uppal added.
In this regard, a case was registered u/s 364-A, 34 IPC & 25/54/59 Arms Act at police station Phase-I, Mohali against this gang and 3 illegal 32 bore weapons, one country made pistol, ammunition, fake ID cards, uniforms, laptops, 4 vehicles and Rs.2.5 lakh booty were recovered from them. Apart from this, kingpin of this gang Dominic Sahota, who impersonated as Assistant Commandant BSF, his father Govinder Singh who impersonates as Inspector of BSF, his brother Mukhtiar Singh @ Peter, Amandeep Singh, Rajveer Singh and Yodhveer Singh were also nabbed by Mohali Police and they are presently lodged in Ropar Jail in the said case.
Further enquiries revealed that previously, a case under FIR No. 7/16 u/s 420, 406, 120-B IPC at PS NRI Amritsar and another case FIR No. 129 dated 25.12.2020 u/s 420 IPC PS Fatehgarh Churian, Batala were also registered against Dominic Sahota and others. The said Dominic Sahota would be taken on production warrant in the instant case, Uppal added.
Therefore, in view of the disclosure statements made by the aforesaid accused Malkiat Singh and Pirthipal Singh, Sukhwant Singh and Harpal Singh Sarpanch have been nominated as accused in the said case.
It is pertinent to mention here that the aforesaid Harpreet Singh of village Mallian, who has been duped of Rs.1.50 lacs by this gang on pretext of recruitment as a Helper in PSPCL, along with 6 other Govt. Job aspirants were present at the premises of the kingpin Sukhwant Singh during the raid conducted by Vigilance Bureau. Besides, 6 other Govt. Job aspirants have revealed in their respective statements recorded before VB that they too would have been duped by the said accused Sukhwant Singh, as he was pressing upon 6 other Govt. Job aspirants to deposit the settled amount of money, immediately in lieu of the job of Helper in PSPCL.
The investigation and the questioning of the aforesaid arrested accused Sukhwant Singh and Harpal Singh Sarpanch is underway and numerous revelations are expected during questioning. In this connection, case u/s 7 Prevention of Corruption Act, u/s 420/120-B IPC, have been registered at police station Vigilance Bureau, Amritsar.
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