By Jaideep Sarin, IANS
Chandigarh : Being in power does matter at crucial times and no one knows it better than Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal and his family. The move by 11 key witnesses to turn hostile in court last week in a disproportionate assets case against the Badals has given the family a breather.
The witnesses, mostly serving and retired government officers and engineers, turned hostile in a Ropar town court, where the disproportionate assets case against Badal, his family members and other associates is being pursued.
The Punjab vigilance department had this year filed a charge sheet against Badal and his family, accusing them of amassing disproportionate assets worth Rs.783 million. Badal, who took over as chief minister in March, has appeared in the special court at Ropar, 45 km from here, several times.
All the witnesses told the court that vigilance officials, under the previous Congress regime headed by Amarinder Singh, had forced them to record statements against Badal.
They claimed that they were forced to submit records and assessment reports of the properties owned by Badal under the directions of the vigilance officials instead of giving the correct assessment of these properties.
The development has come as a breather to Badal and his family, including wife Surinder Kaur and son MP Sukhbir Badal, as it will weaken the prosecution's case against them.
The witnesses claimed that they had not even visited some of Badal's properties in Gurgaon in Haryana and other places but their signatures were obtained on assessments done by vigilance officers at that time.
While the Congress party had then accused Badal and his family of amassing wealth of over Rs.35 billion, the final charge sheet by the vigilance showed disproportionate assets of Rs.783 million.
Allegations were also raised that Badals had invested in benami properties in the US and other places. None of these were substantiated even though the police officers went there to investigate.
Immediately after Badal took over as chief minister and kept the sensitive vigilance department under him, officials and law officers pursuing the case under the previous regime were removed. The new officers initiated steps to bail out the chief minister and his family.
According to Badal's defence, the earlier set of vigilance officials had not put up the income tax department's valuation report on the properties and assets of Badals before the court as that would have weakened the case. The IT department report is now being provided to the court to counter the evaluation and assessment done by officials under pressure.
The IT department valuation report on Badal's family, one of the richest landed families in Punjab, observed that Badal and his relatives had not suppressed the value of their assets.
Their properties and assets include a five-star resort in Gurgaon, a big farmhouse in Haryana's Sirsa district and properties in Punjab, Haryana and New Delhi among others.
This has prompted the Congress to consider transferring the case against Badal out of the state. Amarinder Singh last week said he would approach the Supreme Court to transfer the case out of Punjab as witnesses were being forced to turn hostile.