Badal’s favourites were having a gala time

• JE has 30 properties across Punjab,
• Inspector has nexus with drug peddlers

The vigilance bureau has found that Mandi board superintending engineer( SE) Surinder Pal Singh ‘Pehalwan’, an alleged favourite of the Badals of the Shiromani Akali Dal( SAD ), has 92 properties worth more than ₹1,200 cr re across the state in the names of his family and associates.

These include 30 commercial properties in SAS Nagar, Ludhiana, Moga, Sangrur, Muktsar, Malout and Rupnagar, among other places, and a 1,000-sq-yard house in Chandigarh bought in 2014. Three companies owned by his family also have deposits of ₹57 crore. The properties were allegedly amassed when SAD-BJP ruled Punjab for 10 years — starting from when he was a junior engineer.

The Badals were so generous to the officer that, at one point in 2014, he held 22 official posts, including those of chief engineer of Mandi Board, of Greater Mohali Area Development Authority (GMADA), and of Greater Ludhiana Area Development Authority (GLADA).

In another case, CIA inspector Inderjit Singh  was taken to Aritsar and his house was searched. Inderjit was arrested on last Friday after an AK-47, 4 kg heroin and ₹16 lakh were recovered from his official quarters in Phagwara. With his arrest on the charges of drug trafficking, the nexus between police and drug traffickers has surfaced once again. The Punjab Special Task Force arrested the accused on the charges of drug trafficking and seized a huge cache of drugs, arms and ammunition from his residence.

During the raids at his Jalandhar Police Lines house and his Phagwara house, drugs as well as weapons worth over several crore were seized, said STF additional director general of police, H.S. Sidhu. “The police seized 7kg of narcotics, including 4kg of heroin, an Italy-made .9 mm pistol, live cartridges of various calibers and Rs 16.50 lakh cash.” Inspector Inderjit, close to many high-police officers, was famous for catching large quantities of drugs. As per reports, he was under the scanner ever since he was posted as the CIA in-charge in Tarn Taran. The STF analyzed total 13 cases of recovery by him in the district and found that despite huge recovery — as high as 19kg heroin in one case — all accused were freed. At that time, local Akali leaders came to his rescue.

STF head Harpreet Sidhu said the accused used to tamper with witness records before presenting the case before the court. “Courts raised questions over the probe in controversial cases, but they went unnoticed. We are analysing his other cases too,” said  Sidhu. His modus operandi was simple. He would nab smugglers with drugs and seek favours from them for their acquittal.