Booked for graft, top civic officer now finds age not on his side

A former chief engineer, Surinderpal Singh, has been booked by the Punjab Vigilance Bureau for getting a government job by submitting a forged birth certificate

First he was booked for amassing properties worth hundreds of crores and now he finds himself on the wrong side of the law over his age.

A former chief engineer of the Punjab Mandi Board and Greater Mohali Area Development Authority (GMADA), Surinderpal Singh, has been booked by the Punjab Vigilance Bureau for getting a government job by submitting a forged birth certificate, a Vigilance Bureau (VB) spokesman said here on Monday.

"The VB had already registered a case against him for abusing his official position and amassing huge wealth with ill-gotten money by illegally favouring some construction companies besides transacting in the accounts of his family and their bogus firms to adjust this ill-gotten money," the spokesman said.

Now, fresh investigations had revealed that Singh got the government job using a forged birth certificate, he said.

"Accused Surinderpal Singh was recruited as a Junior Engineer in Punjab Mandi Board on 28.1.1993. During investigation, it has been found that in the service book, his date of birth had been recorded as 11.12.1971, whereas, his actual date of birth is 11.12.1967," the spokesman pointed out, adding that as per the academic milestones of Singh, his date of birth was 11.12.1967.

"Investigation reveals that Surinderpal Singh, in connivance with officers/officials of PSEB (Punjab School Education Board) and Punjab Mandi Board, got his date of birth altered as 11.12.1971 instead of his actual date of birth of 11.12.1967," he added.

On the basis of investigations, the Vigilance Bureau has registered a case against Surinderpal Singh and officials of the PSEB and the Punjab Mandi Board under sections 420, 467, 468, 471, 120-B of IPC and Section 13(1)(d) r/w 13(2) of the Prevention of Corruption Act at the VB Police Station Flying Squad-I, S.A.S. Nagar and further investigation was under progress, the spokesman said.

The VB had last month unearthed 92 properties worth crores of rupees amassed by Surinderpal Singh, the GMADA chief engineer, which were purchased by five firms floated by him in the name of his family members and associates.

In addition, Rs 57 crore was deposited in three companies owned by his family.

The properties were purchased by Singh between 2001 and 2016 in the names of family members.

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