Chandigarh, July 25: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has provisionally attached immovable properties worth ₹53.64 lakh belonging to Sukhwinder Singh, former range forest officer of Budhlada, in connection with an ongoing money laundering investigation into the Punjab forest scam that occurred during the Congress regime (2017–2022).
The ED action follows two FIRs filed by the Punjab Vigilance Bureau under various sections of the Indian Penal Code and the Prevention of Corruption Act. Sukhwinder was arrested by the Vigilance Bureau in August 2022 for allegedly embezzling ₹45.69 lakh meant for cemented tree guards and ₹7 lakh allocated for bamboo tree guards. He was later suspended, though his suspension was revoked last year. He is due to retire in 2026.
According to the ED, Sukhwinder Singh submitted fake bills from non-existent entities and transferred funds to various private individuals, receiving the money back in cash. “Through these criminal activities, the accused acquired proceeds of crime to the tune of ₹53.64 lakh,” the ED said in its statement.
This is the same case in which former Punjab forest minister Sadhu Singh Dharamsot was arrested under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), 2002. A prosecution complaint was filed against him in the PMLA court in Mohali, which framed charges this March. Dharamsot, currently out on bail, was arrested by the ED on January 15 last year. The agency had also attached properties worth ₹4.58 crore linked to him.
The Vigilance Bureau’s investigation revealed that fake bills were generated from bogus firms and public funds were siphoned off by routing money through multiple bank accounts. In 2021, under the compensatory afforestation scheme, 5,872 RCC tree guards were sanctioned for procurement in the Mansa forest range. Sukhwinder Singh was responsible for 2,537 of them and claimed to have purchased them from private firms in Sangrur and Patiala.
However, when investigators verified the GST and contact numbers on the submitted bills, it was discovered that no such firms existed at the given addresses, further implicating Sukhwinder in the scam.
