Amarinder walks free in 2008 land transfer case

Mohali: Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh and 17 others were on Friday acquitted of charges of corruption in the transfer of land to a private developer in a decade-old case.

The accused included former Punjab Vidhan Sabha Speaker Kewal Krishan and two former ministers. All three are dead now.

Mohali Special Judge Jaswinder Singh accepted the closure report filed by the state's Vigilance Bureau (VB) while clearing the 18 accused of wrongdoing in the transfer of 32.10 acre of Amritsar Improvement Trust's prime land to a private developer.

The Vigilance Bureau had registered the case against them in 2008 on the recommendation of the Punjab Vidhan Sabha.

Amarinder Singh, who was present in the court along with the other accused, welcomed the verdict as a "victory of truth and said justice had prevailed.

"It was political vendetta as the VB had acted on the directions of its then political masters," he said, in an apparent reference to then Akali Dal-BJP government.

He ruled out any action against the concerned Vigilance Bureau officers.