Police on Tuesday arrested one of the three main accused booked in a case of misappropriation of Rs 6.65 crore from the home of a Jalandhar-based priest. Surinder Singh was presented in court on Wednesday and was sent to six days’ police remand till April 23. The other two accused, both assistant sub-inspectors with Punjab Police, are still at large. Advertising Police had arrested Surinder, who hails from village Naushera Khurad of Pathankot district, from Samrala under Khanna police district. He is said to be the police informer in this case. According to FIR lodged registered at the state Crime Branch police station in Mohali district on April 12, Surinder and the two ASIs — Joginder Singh and Rajpreet Singh — were booked in the case under section 406 (criminal breach of trust) and 34 (common intention) of the IPC as well as under the Prevention of Corruption Act. As per details procured by The Indian Express from the state Crime Branch, Surinder was arrested by the Samrala station house officer (SHO) during a special police naka following an alert sounded by the SIT in this case. Advertising Surinder was presented in the court of Duty Magistrate, Mohali, Jessika Sood. On Sunday, Surider’s father Gurnam Singh had told The Indian Express that his son had told him that he was going to join a “police inquiry” at Phillaur in Jalandhar and had left home on April 8, after which he had not contacted them. Surinder’s father had even gone to Khanna police on April 12 and met the DSP to inquire about his son. Priest Anthony Madassery had filed a complaint of misappropriation of funds to the tune of Rs. 6.65 crore by Khanna Police, which had earlier claimed to have recovered Rs 9.66 crore of hawala money from the priest at a checkpost in Doraha, Ludhiana, on March 29. On March 31, the priest had held a press conference and said that police had come to his place at Partapura, from where they had sezied Rs 16.65 crore. The SIT formed to probe the case — comprising IG Crime Parveen Kumar Sinha (Chairman of SIT), Police Commissioner Jalandhar Gurpreet Singh Bhullar (Member), SSP Patiala Mandeep Singh (member) and AIG State Crime Mohali Rakesh Kaushal (Member and IO) — is yet to ascertain the exact amount of cash missing.

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