Most accused in the fresh chargesheet filed by Punjab Vigilance hold senior positions in the state government A Patiala court on Tuesday issued summons to 21 persons,accused of paying lakhs of rupees to the then Punjab Public Service Commission (PPSC) chief for securing a PCS job. A number of these hold senior positions in the Punjab government. While taking up a fresh chargesheet,filed by the Punjab Vigilance Bureau,the court of Patialas Additional District and Sessions Judge Harpreet Kaur Jeewan issued summons returnable for May 21 to all the 21 accused who are named in the supplementary chargesheet,for their personal appearance before the court to face trial in the controversial PPSC case. The VB had filed the main chargesheet in the case on January 16,2003,and has now pleaded to attach the current chargesheet along with the main challan in the case. The 21 persons,including many senior functionaries of the government,have been charged with paying amounts ranging between Rs 12 lakh and Rs 70 lakh in 1998 and 1999 as bribe to the then PPSC chairman Ravinder Pal Singh Sidhu,to secure a job in the PCS (Executive). All the accused have been booked under Sections 8/12 of Prevention of Corruption Act,1988,and under Sections 120-B of the IPC. The 21 accused included 10 aspiring candidates and 11 who acted as mediators to secure these jobs. While the 10 candidates summoned now are already out on bail since November 16,2002,the mediators have not been granted any anticipatory bail. Among the aspiring candidates named as accused in the fresh Vigilance chargesheet are Amarbir Singh,at present posted as Secretary,Zila Parishad Mohali,Kamal Kumar,Veterinary Officer in Patiala,Jiwan Kumar Garg,Jail Superintendent in Patiala Central Jail,Rahul Gupta,Joint Commissioner,Municipal Corporation,Jalandhar,Capt Sukhwinder Singh,DTO Sangrur,Deepak Gakhar alias Deepak Arora,Kuljit Kaur,daughter of former SSP Gurcharan Singh Pherurai,Kamaljit Singh,Bharat Bhushan,and Randeep Singh,ETO Investigation,Mandi Gobindgarh. The fresh chargesheet filed by Mukhtiar Singh,SP Vigilance Bureau,Phase II Police Station,Patiala,has also named 11 persons as mediators. Prominent among these are retired bureaucrat and the then PPSC member T C Gupta for helping his son Rahul Gupta increase his marks in Punjabi from 46 to 67 with help of examiner Tejinder Kaur,Reader and Head of Punjabi department,Guru Nanak Dev University,Regional Campus,Ladhowali,Jalandhar. The overwriting had been confirmed by a report of Director Forensic Science Laboratory,Chandigarh. Another accused as mediator is H L Bansal,posted as AETC in Ludhiana. He is charged with helping two candidates,Jiwan Kumar Garg and Kamal Kumar Garg,by paying Rs 60 lakh and Rs 50 lakh,respectively,while acting as a mediator for Sidhu. The other mediators who have also been summoned by the court are Shamsher Singh,Sukhpreet Singh,Bikramjit Singh Shergill,Rubinderjit Singh Brar,Bal Mukand Sharma,Subhash Gakhar,Amarjit Singh,Upinder Sharma and Tejinder Kaur. Among the various candidates aspiring for their selection,Deepak Arora had reportedly paid Rs 65 lakh,Jiwan Kumar Garg Rs 60 lakh,Kamal Kumar Garg Rs 50 lakh,Randhir Singh Rs 42 lakh,Capt Sukhwinder Singh Rs 40 lakh,Bharat Bhushan Rs 45 lakh,Amardeep Rs 51 lakh,Gurcharan Singh Pherurais daughter Kuljit Kaur Rs 70 lakh and Kamaljit Singh had paid up Rs 12 lakh through their mediators.
