The Punjab and Haryana High Court has directed the Director Inspector General of Police (DIG) of Punjab Vigilance Bureau to submit a report on the status of investigation of a corruption case registered against the tehsildar and naib tehsildar of Ludhiana.

The DIG has been directed to submit a report by Friday and inform the court about action that has been taken against the alleged involvement of Sumer Singh Gurjar, former deputy commissioner of Ludhiana. The Vigilance will furnish report of the action taken since February 4 this year till date.

“You have done nothing since February. You should show us what is being done in this regard and whether action has been taken against the people named by one of the accused,” Chief Justice Tirath Singh Thakur told the counsel appearing for the Punjab government. The case will come up for hearing on Friday.

The directions were issued with regard to a suo motu notice taken by the High Court on a complaint posted by a Punjab-based resident on the basis of news reports highlighting the confessions of Ludhiana tehsildar Arvind Prakash Verma and Mullapur Dhaka naib tehsildar Salinder Singh.

Arvind had told the Vigilance that on each working day, he would make Rs 7.5 lakh through illegal gratification. Of this, he would share 25 per cent with his office staff, give Rs 2 lakh to Gurjar, Rs 75,000 to ADC Kamalpreet Kaur Brar and Rs 50,000 to SDM Surinder Mohan Sharma.

Arvind further told the Vigilance he would deal with nearly 150 cases of registration of land daily and would fix Rs 5,000-Rs 10,000 as bribe depending upon the cost of land.

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