Former IAS surrenders in Rs 100 crore land deal

Retired IAS officer G.S. Sandhu has been sent to judicial custody till May 25 after he surrendered before an ACB court here on Thursday. However, Mr Sandhu, a 1980 batch IAS officer of the Rajasthan cadre, has moved a fresh bail application which is to be heard on Friday, additional SP (ACB) Bajrang Singh Shekhawat said.

The former IAS officer, who served as secretary, department of financial services (ministry of finance), before retiring as chairman, National Authority for Chemical Weapons Convention, last year is the main accused in a Rs 100-crore land deed case.

The anti-corruption bureau (ACB) had earlier issued a lookout notice for Mr Sandhu after he failed to respond to the summons issued against him. He has been evading arrest ever since he retired and trying to get bail. Former Union minister Kapil Sibal was arguing his case in the Supreme Court. The top court had granted anticipatory bail to the retired IAS on March 18 but subsequently rejected it on May 9. Realising that chances of getting relief from the apex court were bleak, he subsequently withdrew his bail petition a couple of days ago.

Mr Sandhu’s arrest could spell trouble for senior Congress leader Shanti Dhariwal, who was urban development housing minister when the scam took place.

Although he has not been named directly in the chargesheet, the ACB has already quizzed him twice.

The ACB has alleged that Mr Sandhu, who was additional chief secretary in urban development and housing (UDH) during former chief minister’s Ashok Gehlot’s tenure, connived with Jaipur Development Authority officials and transferred a society’s single deed, commonly called “ekal patta”, of a land measuring 14 bigha to a builder in 2011.

The ACB has submitted a 2,200-page-long chargesheet in this case that also involves some senior officers of the state administrative service, of whom one, Omkar Mal Saini, is still absconding.

While then JDA secretary Nishkam Diwakar has secured bail from the Supreme Court recently, Shailendra Garg, the owner of the company, is still in jail.