Ludhiana: A local court on Wednesday adjourned the hearing on the plea by former SSP, vigilance. He had submitted a plea to the court to hear him in the City Centre case before deciding on the cancellation report filed by vigilance bureau. The next date of hearing of the case is August 16.The main accused in the case include Punjab chief minister Captain Amarinder Singh, his son Raninder Singh, son-in-law Raminder among others.Vijay Mahendru, counsel for former SSP, said they sought more time from court to inspect the details about the case including applications filed at various points of time. He added that the final argument on their application is expected in the next hearing after which the court will pronounce order on their application.Counsel for former SSP said the hearing of the case went on for around five minutes. He added that the defence side did not object to their plea for adjournment.Counsel for the former SSP in the application had sought that his client’s plea be heard once and should be accepted as he is the main complainant and investigation officer of the case. He had argued that the petitioner had carried out preliminary investigation and registered the FIR being the complainant of the case.On the other hand, public prosecutor, who represented state of Punjab, had argued that Kanwarjit Sandhu is merely a ‘signatory of the FIR’ by the virtue of being then SSP, not the complainant in the case.On July 17, former SSP vigilance Kanwarjit Singh Sandhu, who was the complainant and investigating officer in the case, had filed an application in the trial court alleging there was a political conspiracy behind the move to cancel the case that he had investigated during service, and urged the judge to hear his plea before deciding on the cancellation report filed by the vigilance bureau last year. Sandhu, in his application had said, he had registered the FIR in the City Centre case and had investigated the case while he was posted as the SSP, vigilance bureau, Ludhiana. Sandhu retired from the service in 2010. The former police officer had told the court in his application that he was being pressured to give assent to the cancellation. He had added that he was facing threat to his life and had been warned that he would be falsely implicated in criminal cases.What is the case?In 2007, the vigilance bureau had filed a case against 36 accused, including Captain Amarinder Singh, his son Raninder and son-in-law Raminder, for allegedly favouring a Delhi-based firm for the City Centre project. On August 19 last year, the vigilance bureau had filed a closure report of the case in court, claiming that there was no scam at all and no proof was found against the accused after a re-investigation into the case. The project had been announced in 2003 by Amarinder during his previous tenure as chief minister. Launched in 2006, the project was to have shopping malls, multiplexes and residential apartments.

Stay updated with all the Latest Ludhiana headlines here. For more exclusive & live news updates from all around India, stay connected with NYOOOZ.