Summary:
Chandigarh, Aug 9 (PTI) A woman sarpanch in Patiala district has been arrested on charges of embezzlement of panchayat funds amounting to Rs 12.24 crore, the Punjab Vigilance Bureau said on Tuesday.
A spokesperson of the bureau said the Punjab Urban Development Authority had acquired "shamlat" (vacant) land measuring 1,104 acres belonging to five different villages for construction of Amritsar-Kolkata integrated corridor.
In this regard, about Rs 285 crore was given to Pabra, Takhtu Majra, Sehra, Sehri and Akari villages at Shambu Block in Patiala district.
Out of this, an amount of about Rs 51 crore was received by gram panchayat Akari for the acquisition of land measuring around 183 acres, he said.
During investigation, it came to light that the accused identified as village head Harjit Kaur initiated development work by using the funds in the village.
However, during physical checking of these work by the technical team of the vigilance bureau, it was revealed that Kaur had allegedly misappropriated a huge amount of funds by passing fake resolutions of gram panchayat for the construction of village pond, community centre, graveyard and panchayat ghar.
To prove these work as genuine, she released payments through cheques to different firms, the spokesperson added.
The probe found that embezzlement of Rs 12.24 crore was committed in the name of development work by Kaur.
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