- (1.) Petitioner, Sarbdeep Singh Virk, I.P.S. (Retd.) has filed this petition invoking jurisdiction of this Court under Articles 226 and 227 of the Constitution of India, seeking quashment of memo No.249/PA/DVB dated 07.09.2007 along with draft FIR (Annexure P-21) as also the quashment of FIR No.10 dated 08.09.2007, under Sections 168, 169, 216, 218 and 120-B of the Indian Penal Code (for short IPC) read with Section 7, 13(1)(d)(e) and Section 13(2) of the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988 (for short PC Act), registered at Police Station, FS-1 Vigilance Bureau, Mohali (Annexure P-19)and various ancillary reliefs.
(2.) The petitioner was a Member of the All India Service (Indian Police Service) belonging to 1970 Batch of the Maharashtra Cadre. He has served in the State of Punjab in various capacities, such as, the Senior Superintendent of Police, the Deputy Inspector General of Police, the Inspector General of Police, the Additional Director General of Police and finally as the Director General of Police during various spells right from the year 1984 till 2007. An FIR No.10 dated 08.09.2007 was registered by the Police at Police Station, FS-1, Vigilance Bureau, Mohali (Punjab) under the above mentioned sections of the IPC and the PC Act, respectively, containing various allegations. The same are being summarized hereunder: (a) While serving as a Government servant in the State of Punjab, the petitioner indulged in business of property dealing, sale and purchase of plots and colonization. He entered into a business deal with one Shri Avinash Singh Grewal in respect to 15 acres of land possessed by Shri Avinash Singh Grewal at Zirakpur (Mohali). Part payment of Rs.6 lacs was made to said Shri Avinash Singh Grewal vide cheque from the joint account of the petitioner with his wife and daughter in the Times Bank, Sector-08, Chandigarh. He developed and sold plots in this colony and received huge money both in black and white in various accounts in his own name, in the name of his wife, brother, daughter etc. Huge transactions in the range of Rs. 3 to Rs.5 lacs each were made in these accounts between September, 2000 to August, 2007. Deposits and withdrawal are over Rs.3 crores in the bank account of the petitioner. Similarly, in the account of his brother Rajdeep Singh Virk, there are deposits and withdrawals to the tune of about Rs.3 crores between the period 2003 to August, 2007. (b) The petitioner purchased lands near Zirakpur and illegally constructed a Resort by investing ill gotten money where a marriage palace, restaurant, night club etc. have been raised illegally during the period 2004 to 2007, while working as the Additional Director General of Police and the Director General of Police. Thus, he has caused a huge loss to the State exchequer and the Punjab Urban Development Authority. (c ) The petitioner got approved a Mega Project in villages Nabha and Chhat (near Zirakpur) in the year 2006 fraudulently by abusing his position as the Director General of Police, Punjab, by including village Chhat within the Municipal Limits of Zirakpur. (d) During the years 2002-2007, the petitioner served as the Additional Director General of Police/the Director General of Police in the State of Punjab and amassed property disproportionate to his known sources of income. This property includes House No.1068, Sector 27-B, Chandigarh, a Flat in Sector 39, Chandigarh, Chimney Heights Resort, Zirakpur on about 14 acres of land, about 10 acres of land for a Mega Project, called, Chandigarh International Convention Center, about 27 acres of land of village Bakarpur, about 7 acres of land on Landran road in village Sekhan Majra, in District Mohali, in the name of his wife. The petitioner has abused his official position and men power of the Police Department to manage his business. Properties of the petitioner in his own name and in the name of his relatives values more than Rs.100 crores. (e) Fraudulently grabbing of property about 4 acres of land of War Widow, namely, Smt. Mohinder Kaur, situated in the outskirts of Chandigarh for which he paid Rs.50 lacs to one Vijay Pal Singh @Dimpy from the account of his wife. The petitioner acquired a benami house in Kasauli in Himachal Pradesh in the name of Varinder Singh son of Vijay Pal Singh @ Dimpy. (f) The petitioner kept a private group of former terrorists to grab and retain the ill gotten properties. Name of one of the former terrorists i.e. Sukhwinder Singh @ Sukhi resident of Jalandhar, is mentioned. (g) Further allegation is that the petitioner by abuse of his official position, got the terrorists released even falsely showing to have escaped from the custody of the police. (h) By the abuse of the official position, the petitioner purchased security equipment's worth crores of rupees from Anurag Saxena and take huge amount of illegal gratification etc. Challenge to the FIR and criminal proceedings is three folds: (1) Criminal proceedings have been initiated on account of malafides which are attributed to respondent Nos.3 and 5 to 9. Respondent Nos. 5 and 6 are the Chief Minister and the Deputy Chief Minister of the State of Punjab, whereas respondent No.3 is the Principal Secretary, Home. Respondent Nos. 7 and 8 are the Directors, Vigilance Bureau, Punjab and respondent No.9 is a police official. However, this respondent was subsequently deleted from the array of the respondents vide order dated 08.07.2010. (2) To support the allegations of malafides, it is alleged that when the petitioner was serving as the Director General of Police, in December, 2006, he was approached by some Shiromani Akali Dal (for short SAD) leaders to pass on election related information to their party for which the SAD leaders after coming to power would look after the interest of the petitioner. It is alleged that on refusal of the petitioner to do so being violative of the Civil Services Ethics, the action of the petitioner was not liked by the SAD leaders and they started leveling false and baseless allegations against him. It is further alleged that a complaint was lodged with the Election Commission for his removal as the Director General of Police on the allegations of helping the ruling party i.e. Congress, at the relevant time. The Election Commission, initially, rejected the request of the SAD leaders, however on a fresh complaint that the family of the petitioner was benefited by the government by clearing a Mega Project under the Industrial Policy of the State, the Election Commission directed the relieving of the petitioner from the charge of the Director General of Police. The petitioner, accordingly, sought termination of his deputation with the State of Punjab and repatriation to Maharashtra, his parent cadre, vide his letter dated 05.03.2007, to the Union Home Minister. The petitioner further alleged that apprehending implication in false cases under the influence of SAD leaders, he again requested the Union Home Secretary and the Union Home Minister, for his repatriation. At his request, the government of India, ordered premature termination of the petitioner's deputation with the State of Punjab vide letter dated 10.04.2007. On coming to know of the repatriation of the petitioner by the Government of India, Punjab Government which by that time was taken over by the SAD after elections, suspended the petitioner from service vide order dated 04.04.2007. It is alleged that this letter was ante dated. It is further alleged that the Punjab Government was required to convey the suspension of the petitioner to the government of India, the petitioner being All India Service Member as per All India Service (Disciplinary and Appeal) Rules, 1969. It is alleged that prior to that, the petitioner had sought Earned Leave from 05.03.2007 to 31.03.2007 which was sanctioned by the Punjab Government, Department of Home Affairs vide order dated 10.04.2007, wherein no mention was made of the suspension of the petitioner on 04.04.2007. It is, accordingly, stated that order of suspension of the petitioner was ante dated. The petitioner reported for duty at Maharashtra on 27.04.2007, but was put on compulsory waiting due to non availability of any post in the grade of the Director General of Police. It is also alleged that a charge sheet dated 20.04.2007 was served upon the petitioner vide communication dated 21.08.2007 on the petitioner's residence at Chandigarh even though the petitioner had shifted to Mumbai on repatriation. Subsequently, Hon'ble Mr. Justice S.K. Jain (Retd.) was appointed as the Enquiry Officer. Regarding registration of the FIR, it is stated that respondent Nos. 5 to 7, are all acting in concert to teach a lesson to the petitioner for not following the ideology of the SAD leaders. It is also stated that respondent No.7 prepared a draft FIR which is unknown to law. This draft FIR was sent to Shri Surinder Pal, Senior Superintendent of Police, Vigilance Bureau, for registration of the case. The petitioner has further alleged that all the properties stated to be acquired by him, were duly reflected in his property statements filed from time to time.
(3.) The petitioner was arrested on 09.09.2007 from Maharshtra Sadan, New Delhi, where he was staying. He was taken to Punjab without any arrest warrants or transit remand. He was not produced before the nearest Magistrate nor guidelines laid down by the Hon'ble Supreme Court in D.K. Basu Vs. State of West Bengal, 1997 1 SCC 416, were observed. It is further alleged that son of the petitioner sought information from Delhi Police under the Right to Information Act and he was informed that Delhi Police was not informed regarding the arrest of the petitioner from Delhi. The petitioner was, however, granted bail by the High Court on 31.10.2007. It is further the case of the petitioner that the Deputy Chief Minister, State of Maharashtra, addressed a letter dated11.10.2007 to the Union Home Minster against the illegal action of the Punjab Government.;