The court has fixed February 7 as the next date of hearing.The prosecution Friday concluded its arguments against an application moved by former DGP Punjab Sumedh Singh Saini in the alleged Rs 1,144-crore Ludhiana City Centre scam in the court of district and sessions judge Gurbir Singh.
Questioning the clean chit given to Punjab Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh and other accused in the case, Saini on November 28, 2018 had filed an application stating that he should be heard once before the court accepts cancellation report filed by vigilance and that he has ‘sensitive information’ (being the director vigilance from 2007-2012), which he wants to submit in a sealed envelope.
On Friday, director prosecution Vijay Singla and district attorney Ravinder Abrol, arguing against the Saini’s plea to become party in the case, said that the former DGP has no locus standi in the case. They argued that Saini was not the signatory to any documents related to the case or project nor did he participate in any proceedings of the case. They further argued that Saini is neither an informant nor the aggrieved in the case. The prosecution also argued that the plea of former SSP Kanwarjit Singh Sandhu was rejected by the same court noting that it is the “state of Punjab”, which is the complainant in the case.
During the last hearing, Saini’s counsel Ramanpreet Singh Sandhu had argued that two departments of Punjab government were taking different stands in two courts related to the case. He had argued that while vigilance department in this court was saying that there was no scam at all and all accused including the CM and representatives of M/S Today Homes were falsely implicated, their stand was completely opposite in the court of additional district judge Kuldeep Kumar Kareer. In that court, the local bodies department is fighting against compensation awarded to the Today Homes and has contended that the company had committed a fraud causing loss to the state exchequer.
The prosecution Friday said that contents of affidavit furnished by Ludhiana Improvement Trust (LIT) chairman PS Gill in court of Kareer might not be completely correct and that the LIT was recipient of funds collected by the Today Homes for the project. “Today, prosecution has said that affidavit filed by their own IAS officer was wrong. This is being done to save Capt Amarinder Singh. They have said in the court that objections filed by their own IAS officer against Today Homes were wrong. Now, it is government’s own vigilance department is pitted against the LIT here to save the CM,” said Sandhu.
The court has fixed February 7 as the next date of hearing.
