The Punjab Vigilance Bureau (VB) on Saturday arrested Muktsar Additional Deputy Commissioner (Development) Surinder Dhillon for embezzling funds from grants released for compensation related to land acquired for the Amritsar-Kolkata Corridor Project in Patiala district.
Disclosing this, an official spokesperson of the VB stated, “Surinder Dhillon, who was posted as the District Development and Panchayat Officer (DDPO) at the time, was named in FIR No. 12, dated 26.05.2022. He faces charges under sections 406 (punishment for criminal breach of trust), 420 (cheating and dishonestly inducing delivery of property), 409 (criminal breach of trust by public servant, or by banker, merchant or agent) 465 (punishment for forgery), 467 (forgery of valuable security, will, etc. and 120-B (punishment for criminal conspiracy) of the IPC, as well as section 13(1)(A) read with section 13(2) of the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988 (which deal with criminal misconduct by a public servant), as amended by the PC (Amendment) Act, 2018. These charges pertain to embezzlement and failure to perform his duties regarding a grant of Rs 285 crore released for compensation related to 1,103 acres of land acquired for the Amritsar-Kolkata Corridor project, specifically in the villages of Akkri, Sehra, Sehri, Takhtumajra and Pabra in the Shambhu Block of Patiala district.”
The spokesperson added, “During the investigation, the VB found that 30% of the funds allocated was supposed to be deposited in the account of Secretary wages of the BDPO Office, which was not done properly.”
