LUDHIANA, Nov 12: Acting on the findings of administrative inquiries conducted by Additional Deputy Commissioners (ADCs), police wings across Ludhiana district have booked nearly 2,000 people in connection with 978 undervalued property sale deeds.
The Ludhiana Commissionerate, Khanna, and Ludhiana Rural police simultaneously registered 10 FIRs after audit verifications revealed stamp duty shortfalls amounting to crores of rupees on properties registered between 2013 and 2016. The accused, comprising buyers and sellers, are alleged to have caused revenue losses to the government exchequer in collusion with revenue staff.
The legal proceedings gained momentum after whistleblower Subhash Kundra Katty, president of the Judge Advocate Peedit Organisation (JAPO), approached the Punjab and Haryana High Court seeking a thorough probe into the registration anomalies.
“The inquiries conducted by the Additional Deputy Commissioners examined the undervalued wasikas flagged during the audit, leading to the registration of these cases across the district,” Katty affirmed while sharing the official figures.
The police have invoked Sections 420, 177, and 120-B of the Indian Penal Code along with Section 82 of the Registration Act to investigate the matter.
Out of the 978 deeds under the scanner, rural subdivisions accounted for the bulk of the cases, led by Samrala with 351 and Machhiwara Sahib with 237. Jagraon registered 103 such deeds, while Sidhwan Bet, Raikot, Payal, and Sahnewal accounted for 33, 31, 25, and 15 cases respectively. Within urban jurisdictions, 82 cases were flagged in Ludhiana Central, 65 in Ludhiana West, and 36 in Ludhiana East.
