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Vigilance sleuths book retired IAS officer in assets case

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Ramandeep S Bajwa
New Update
Vigilance sleuths book retired IAS officer in assets case
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Punjab vigilance bureau has booked Indian Administrative Services (IAS) officer Mandeep Singh for allegedly amassing assets disproportionate to his known sources of income. The 1991-batch IAS officer officer, however, is not likely to be arrested in the case. The first information report (FIR) has been registered after a one-and-a-half-year investigation by the bureau into allegations against the officer. The details of the case registered last week have been sent to Punjab chief minister Parkash Singh Badal and chief secretary Sarvesh Kaushal. The VB, in its inquiry report and FIR, has listed out more than half-a-dozen properties amassed by the officer over the years during his service. His assets have been found to be 162% more than known sources of income. Apart from two residential properties in Chandigarh’s Sector 8 and Sector 34, the officer’s family is said to own a large hotel near Chandigarh. The family also owns over 150 acres of land in Chamkaur Sahib. The VB’s report adds that Mandeep Singh himself does not own any property and all these properties are in the name of his wife and son. The bureau began probe into Mandeep Singh’s assets in January 2014. VB sources add that the officer’s family also tried to sell some of these properties during the course of the investigation and on at least one occasion, the officer allegedly tried to use his position to arrange for a loan from a bank for someone who showed interest in buying the hotel. Other than the vigilance bureau probe, Mandeep Singh is also facing a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) probe into his alleged role in the infamous panchayat secretaries’ recruitment scam when he was posted as the director, rural development and panchayats. SCAM UNEARTHED IN 2003 The scam was unearthed in 2003 when a former director of the department moved the Punjab and Haryana High Court alleging that former assembly speaker and former rural development and panchayat minister Nirmal Singh Kalhon along with 13 senior officers had during 1997 to 2002 selected 909 panchayat secretaries for ignoring merit. In December 2013, the union home ministry granted permission to the CBI to prosecute Mandeep Singh in the scam. Mandeep Singh challenged his prosecution sanction in the case by the central government. Mandeep Singh has also remained the state transport director. He was secretary, forest and wildlife department, and was also commissioner of gurdwara elections, Punjab, before he retired. Challan against Mandeep to be given in court tomorrow.-
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