‘Punjab Vigilance Bureau now more active than before’

Chandigarh: Be it the case of IAS Sanjay Popli’s son’s alleged suicide or arresting ex-Forest minister Sadhu Singh Dharamsot at the wee hours, the Vigilance Bureau of Punjab has surely gained momentum in its working style as it has been a department in hibernation in previous years. Since the Aam Aadmi Party’s conception, the Vigilance Bureau of Punjab is now more active than in previous years. Being more active is inviting more challenges and questions about the working style of the Vigilance Bureau. The AAP government has started an Anti-Corruption Cell which is receiving calls 24X7 and is playing a role in fighting corruption in Punjab. It has had two-way traffic all these years. The Sunday Guardian spoke to the Chief of Vigilance Bureau, IPS Varinder Kumar, and tried to know what challenges they are facing when they arrest the big fish. Excerpts:
Q: Why arrest ex-Forest minister Sadhu Singh Dharamsot at the wee hours of midnight, it could have been at 5 am rather than 3 am when he was arrested?
A: We have some inputs and shreds of evidence against Sadhu Singh Dharamsot and his OSD that they might leave the country. We did not wish to lose any time; so we chose this time.
Q: There is an allegation on the Vigilance Bureau that they killed IAS Sanjay Popli’s son and Sanjay Popli, too, blames the department, while the department personnel made the statement that the incident happened when they left Popli’s house, how does the department handle such allegations?
A: The statement of the Vigilance Bureau personnel is already there in the public domain. As far as the death of Kartik Popli is concerned, I personally and my whole department got shocked by this news and we felt truly pained that no one should see this day ever. The allegation that they made was completely baseless, rest let the law take its course.
Q: As per Vigilance Bureau’s DSP Ajay Kumar, the 20 kg gold recovery was made on the information of Popli which was found to be true, then how come Sanjay Popli could lie when he alleged the department had killed his son?
A: We can understand the plight of a father who has lost his son. So far as his allegations are concerned, our personnel went there for recovery and we do not have any reason to kill someone’s son. This is not our job. Yet, as I said before that these allegations are completely baseless and we all should trust the law of land.
Q: The department is seeing more complaints than in previous years, any reason behind it?How does the department identify the real complaints as ex-minister Dharamsot has blamed the Vigilance of arresting him based on a diary?
A: We had sufficient evidence to arrest Dharamsot. We are getting complaints on the anti-corruption action line 9501 200 200. Since 23.03.2022, a total of 2,88,107 entries/complaints have been received till date. As many as 3,659 complaints have been received with audio/video recordings. A total of 1,781 complaints were found to be related to other departments, which have been forwarded to the departments concerned. As many as 1,736 complaints were found irrelevant, junk posts, etc., which are general.
A total of 142 complaints were received having audio/video recordings about Vigilance Bureau; 33 FIRs have been registered based on complaints received at the anti-corruption action line till date in various Police stations of the Vigilance Bureau (Amritsar-3, Jalandhar-7, Jalandhar Rural-1, Ludhiana-5, Hoshiarpur-1, Ferozepur-5, Rupnagar-5, Patiala-3, Bathinda-1, and Flying Squad Punjab, Mohali-2); 51 persons have been arrested/bailed out so far in the aforementioned 33 FIRs (civilians-24, police officials-14, Civil Department-13).
If going by the official data of the Vigilance Bureau, the Punjab government has registered 12 trap cases against two Gazetted Officers, 12 Non-Gazetted Officers, and one private person and have been caught red-handed while accepting illegal gratification. Besides, 49 criminal cases have also been registered wherein 10 Gazetted Officers, 52 Non-Gazetted Officers, and 37 private persons were involved. During the period under report, five vigilance enquiries were registered in which four Non-Gazetted Officers and three private persons were involved. Nine vigilance enquiries were finalized during the period these three months after the conception of AAP.
Comparing it with last year during the period from 1.03.2021 to 23.03.2022, 75 trap cases against 11 Gazetted Officers, 83 Non-Gazetted Officers, and 19 private persons, who were caught red-handed while accepting illegal gratification, were registered. Apart from this, 48 criminal cases were registered in which nine Gazetted Officers, 69 Non-Gazetted Officers, and 48 private persons were involved.Three cases about disproportionate assets were registered in which two Gazetted Officers and two Non-Gazetted Officers were involved. During the period under report, 61 vigilance enquiries were registered in which 27 Gazetted Officers, 39 Non-Gazetted Officers, and 34 private persons were involved; 49 vigilance enquiries were finalized during the period.