Just over a fortnight after Punjab Chief Minister sacked his Health and Family Welfare Minister

Dr Vijay Singla and got him arrested on corruption charges, Punjab Vigilance Bureau on early

Tuesday morning arrested the senior Congress leader and former Forest Minister Sadhu Singh

Dharamsot, along with two others, on corruption charges in a matter related to illegal felling of

trees.

Congress another senior leader and his successor Sangat Singh Gilzian has also been booked in

the same matter, after the FIR was filed at 11.10 pm on Monday. He has reportedly gone

underground ever since VB sleuths arrested Dharamsot from his residence at 3 am.

Along with Dharamsot — who was sent on three-day judicial remand, a Patiala-based journalist

Kamalpreet Singh Kamal who was allegedly working as his Media Advisor, and Dharamsot’s

Officer on Special Duty (OSD) and retired Range Officer Chamkaur Singh were also arrested.

Chamkaur was about to flee India and had booked a ticket for Australia early on Wednesday.

The action came days after the Vigilance Bureau arrested Mohali District Forest Officer

Gurmanpreet Singh and a contractor Harminder Singh alias Hummy for accepting Rs two lakh

bribe. The arrests have been made on the basis of their statements.

While Dharamsot has been accused of taking bribes to permit felling of trees, Gilzian allegedly

took bribes on the installation of tree guards in the State.

As per VB’s official statement, Dharamsot has been arrested for being involved in organized

corruption pertaining to the issuance of permits for cutting of Khair trees, transfer of officials,

purchases, and issuance of NOCs (No Objection Certificates) etc.

Spokesperson said that a corruption case, under FIR dated June 2, 2022, under sections 7, 7-A of

the Prevention of Corruption Act, and 120-B of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) was registered

against Mohali DFO Guramanpreet Singh, and a private contractor Harmohinder Singh alias

Hummy for demanding and accepting bribe from coloniser Davinder Singh Sandhu in lieu of not

demolishing farm houses developed by his company WWICS in the vicinity of New Chandigarh,

Mohali.

Both the accused were arrested on June 2. During their interrogation, they have revealed that a

deep-rooted nexus of “organized corruption” has remained prevalent since 2017 in between the

politicians and their associates and officials of state Forests Department.

“During the investigation, accused Harmohinder Singh disclosed in his statement recorded under

section 27 of the Indian Evidence Act that he had been maintaining a hand-written diary

regarding bribes given to senior officers of the Forests Department, political leaders, and their

front-men from time-to-time since 2017; and further, on his demarcation, the said diary was

recovered from his place. The perusal and investigation into the contents of the diary has

revealed the modus-operandi of the culprits which led to their arrests,” said the spokesperson.

Spokesperson further said that Harmohinder Singh was into the business of cutting and selling of

Khair trees in the State after obtaining the mandatory permit for cutting from the Forests

Department in the name of his firm, Gurhar Associates. Harmohinder had obtained permits for

cutting of approximately 7000 trees for the October-March season for which he had to pay bribe

of Rs 1000 per tree, which includes the payment of Rs 500 to the then Forest Minister Sadhu

Singh Dharamsot, Rs 200 to Divisional Forest Officer, and Rs 100 each to Range Officer, Block

Officer, and Forest Guard, respectively.

In addition, the spokesperson informed that in this way, the contractor had given Rs seven lakh

as bribe during the season.

Apart from him, there were 15 other contractors in Mohali who, like him, also had to give similar

bribes, otherwise they were denied permits or were harassed with the threat of heavy fines.

Spokesperson said that the payment to Dharamsot was routed through Kamaljit Singh — a

Khanna resident who works as a reporter and president of Shiv Sena with provision of security

from the Punjab Police.

During the tenure of Amit Chauhan as DFO at Ropar, he had obtained a permit for cutting of

1160 trees at Badiali Kalan, Sub-Division Sri Anandpur Sahib, after giving a bribe of Rs 5.80

lakhs (Rs 500 per tree).

Spokesperson further highlighted that former minister Dharamsot used to get bribe of Rs 10-20

lakh for the transfer of DFO, Rs five-eight lakh for ranger, Rs five lakh for Block Officer, and Rs

two-three lakh for Forest Guard through his OSD Chamkaur Singh and Kamaljit Singh.

Apart from this, during his three-year tenure as Forests Minister, Dharamsot collected Rs one

crore in lieu of issuance of permits for cutting of Khair trees through his OSD Kamaljit Singh.

Spokesperson pointed that during the tenure of Amit Chauhan as DFO at Ropar, he used to show

a lesser number of standing trees on panchayat lands and shared the proceeds of cutting of

remaining actual number of trees with the contractors thereby causing a loss to the panchayats

funds.

“He also used to allow illegal mining to Kamaljit Singh. Besides, Dharamsot used to get bribes

from colonizers, newly-installed filling stations, owners of new projects as well as hotels and

restaurants for issuance of NOCs in lieu of passage on forests land through Chamkaur Singh and

Kamaljit Singh,” added the spokesperson.

GILZIAN COLLECTED RS 6.40 CR AS BRIBE FOR 80,000 TREE GUARDS

VB spokesperson said that contractor Harmohinder Singh had also given Rs five lakh as a bribe

to the former Forests Minister Sangat Singh Gilzian through one Kulwinder Singh for issuance

of a permit for cutting of Khair trees at village Nada in Mohali district.

He had also given bribes to the Range Officer, Block Officer, and Guard.

During his tenure, Gilzian had arranged a meeting of contractor Harmohinder Singh with DFOs

in Punjab and had directed that the purchase of tree guards for protection of plants would only be

made from one Sachin Kumar. The cost of one tree guard was Rs 2800, out of which Gilzian’s

share as bribe was Rs 800. A total of 80,000 tree guards were bought at that time and Gilzian

collected Rs 6.40 crore as bribe.

Divulging the modus operandi, the spokesperson said that the contract for such a drive was given

to a known contractor who used to deposit the cost of plants in the account of the nursery from

which the plants were to be bought.

However, the contractor, without buying any plants, used to get back 80 percent of the money in

cash after leaving the remaining 20 percent with the nursery. This money was then divided

between forest officials and contractors.

Forest officials fraudulently declared the old barbed wires installed in the forest area as

‘condemned’ and placed orders for buying of new barbed wire at inflated prices. However, the

old ‘condemned’ wires, which had to be deposited in the store, were never replaced.

It is pertinent to mention here that forests officials in Mohali used to flatten the natural trajectory

of hills in the district in lieu of bribes. Sometime ago, hilly area was flattened in village Nada in

Mohali for construction of a paved road in connivance with a Forest Guard Dilpreet Singh and

other forest officials.

During the tenure of Gilzian, Amit Chauhan was appointed as DFO, Ropar. At that time, illegal

mining was carried out in 486 acres of land in village Jinda, near Bela within one month. Around

50 feet deep pits were dug up in the village and Rs 40-50 crore worth of illegal mining was

carried out in connivance with sarpanches one of whom named Raja was named in an FIR which

was later cancelled, he added.

After the above-mentioned revelations, a case dated June 6, 2022, under sections 7, 7-A, 13 (1)

(A), (2) of Prevention of Corruption Act and 120B of IPC has been registered against IFS officer

Amit Chauhan, DFO Guramanpreet Singh, Forest Guard Dilpreet Singh, fomer Minister

Dharamsot, former Minister Gilzian, OSD to Dharamsot Chamkaur Singh, press reporter

Kanwaljeet Singh, PA to Gilzian Kulwinder Singh Shergill, and Sachin Kumar.

The arrests come a week after the IPS officer Ishwar Singh was replaced with additional Director

General of Police (ADGP) Verinder Kumar as the Chief Director of the Vigilance Bureau.

Verinder, who was the state intelligence head during Capt Amarinder Singh’s tenure, had

reportedly compiled a dossier of corruption by MLAs and Ministers. However, he did not take

any action against them. It is believed that now Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann is utilising the

same information from the officer.

Notably, Dharamsot, who was also social welfare minister, was indicted in a post-matric

scholarship scam by an IAS officer Kirpa Shankar Saroj during Capt Amarinder’s tenure, but

was given a clean chit. After the change of guard in the state with Charanjit Singh Channi’s

elevation as Chief Minister, Dharamsot was dropped from the Cabinet.

BOX

The Allegations...

      Dharamsot accused to be part of organized corruption pertaining to issuance of permits for

cutting of Khair trees, transfer of officials, purchases, and issuance of NOCs

      Deep-rooted nexus of “organized corruption” prevalent since 2017 between politicians and

their associates and Forests Department officials

      Dharamsot’s name mentioned in contractor’s hand-written diary regarding bribes given to

senior officers, politicians, and their front-men from time-to-time since 2017

      Dharamsot used to get bribe of Rs 10-20 lakh for the transfer of DFO, Rs five-eight lakh

for ranger, Rs five lakh for Block Officer, and Rs two-three lakh for Forest Guard

      During three-year tenure as Minister, Dharamsot collected Rs 1 crore in lieu of issuance of

permits for cutting of Khair trees

      Contractor Hummy paid bribe of Rs 1000 per tree, including Rs 500 to Dharamsot, among

others for cutting approximately 7000 trees

      Contractors were asked to give bribes, otherwise they were denied permits or were

harassed with threat of heavy fines

      Payment to Dharamsot was routed through Kamaljit Singh

      Also allowed illegal mining to Kamaljit Singh, Used to get bribes from colonizers, newly-

installed filling stations, owners of new projects as well as hotels and restaurants for issuance

of NOCs in lieu of passage on forests land

      Contractor Harmohinder also given Rs five lakh a bribe to Gilzian for issuance of a permit

for cutting of Khair trees at village Nada in Mohali district

      Gilzian collected Rs 6.40 crore as bribe in purchase of total 80,000 tree guards