TARN TARAN, MAY 16 — Law enforcement officials arrested Gurdaspur Sub-Divisional Magistrate Anupreet Kaur Randhawa early Saturday morning following allegations of fiscal irregularities during a major national highway development project.
A team from the Tarn Taran police executed the arrest at Randhawa’s official residence on Jail Road. The 2012-batch Punjab Civil Services officer, who additionally managed the Municipal Committee as its head, faces scrutiny over the disbursement of compensation funds during her prior deployment as SDM in Patti.
“The case involves alleged irregularities worth Rs 1.63 crore,” a law enforcement official stated, noting that preliminary findings suggest the total financial discrepancy regarding the National Highway 54 land acquisition project could expand as the investigation proceeds.
Investigators stated that Randhawa served as the Competent Authority Land Acquisition from early 2018 until February 2019. Police reports allege that during this timeframe, statutory authorization was misused to facilitate the transfer of compensation capital directly into the bank accounts of private individuals connected to the officer without the necessary validation of land titles or revenue documentation.
The operation at House No. 10 on Jail Road caught the official unawares. According to monitoring officers, Randhawa initially questioned the jurisdiction and resisted the police intervention before security personnel successfully took her into custody for formal processing.
The arrest follows a history of administrative disputes during the officer’s subsequent posting in Gurdaspur, where local opposition groups previously challenged the administrative rejection of nomination papers during regional Block Samiti and Zila Parishad elections.
