Congress councillor Devinder Singh Babla gets 1.5-year jail term in cheating case

A local court on Tuesday awarded a 1.5 year jail sentence to Congress councillor and leader of opposition of Chandigarh municipal corporation Devinder Singh Babla.

The order came from the additional district and sessions judge Ashwani Kumar Mehta. Babla was held guilty under Sections 420 ( cheating) and 468 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).

On March 27, the local court had held him guilty in a cheating case pertaining to allotment of platforms at the Sector-26 grain market. The case dates back to 2009.

Was market committee chief

In August 2009, Chandigarh Police had registered a case of cheating and forgery against Babla, then chairman of the market committee, and Rakesh, president of the arhtiya association of the Sector-26 grain market, for irregularities in the allotment of 69 platforms at the market.

According to the complaint, even as there were 59 licensees, 10 ineligible persons were also accommodated during the auction inJuly that year . Babla was booked after a shed, which had fallen, had to be reallocated.

Babla surrendered on December 28, 2009, after a local court issued orders asking him to appear before it or be declared a proclaimed offender.

Although key witness, GR Pillai, assistant secretary of the market committee, took a U-turn on his statement recorded with the police, another witness, Ranjit Singh, who was also an official of the committee, corroborated the allegations during the trial.