Wanted by 3 states, villager laughs at law from tree-top

Avtar Singh Nagla declared proclaimed offender by UT, faces NBW at Rohtak, Haryana, and criminal conspiracy charge at Zirakpur, Punjab

Making a mockery of the legal system, a wanted criminal in three states, Zirakpur resident Avtar Singh Nagla, has taken the police forces of Chandigarh, Haryana and Punjab for a ride by climbing up an eucalyptus tree for the past seven days now to evade arrest. Despite being a proclaimed offender (PO) of Chandigarh and wanted in separate criminal cases at Zirakpur,Punjab, and Rohtak, Haryana, none of the three state police forces have dared to catch him in the last week.

While the police officials are passing the buck at each other for their failure to arrest this 'notorious' person who has been on the run in the past, prompting a Chandigarh court to declare him a proclaimed offender in a cheating and fraud case, Nagla is demanding that Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal visit him to resolve what he calls "a multi-crore rupee land scam".

Confirming that Nagla is a PO wanted by Chandigarh Police, UT SSP Naunihal Singh said, "Since he is present in Punjab territory, Punjab Police should arrest him and hand him over to us as we cannot go and arrest him there." However, Mohali SSP Gurpreet Singh Bhullar denied getting any official intimation from his UT counterpart about Nagla being a PO. "I have asked the Zirakpur SHO to verify and act accordingly. As far as the Zirakpur case is concerned, Nagla faces a bailable charge which is still under investigation," said Bhullar. While non-bailable warrants (NBWs) have been issued against Nagla at Rohtak, he faces a criminal conspiracy charge under Section 120-B of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) at Zirakpur.

The UT case pertains to an alleged fraud of Rs 24 lakh, which Nagla had allegedly taken from a Chandigarh resident on the promise of arranging him allotment of a gas agency by using his "contacts". When the man demanded his money back, Nagla gave him two cheques that bounced. After the cops failed to arrest him despite court orders, he was declared a PO in October 2010.

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