Land grab charge against man who assaulted AIG Mand

Tuesday, 01/01/2013

http://www.tribuneindia.com/2013/20130101/punjab.htm#9

Ludhiana : "The Hub" is a night club, which is located in the busy Ghumar Mandi and stands on land worth several crore rupees. It is owned by an NRI, and was allegedly "usurped" by former Youth Akali Dal (YAD) leader Maninderpal Singh 'Sunny' Johar, once considered close to YAD president and minister Bikram Singh Majithia.

The night club was inaugurated on April 15 and Johar violated the building bylaws during its construction. The Ludhiana Municipal Corporation overlooked this and let the club have a side entry, which is not permissible in such buildings.

The 514 sq yards of land, where The Hub is located, was actually owned by one Beant Kumari, who had purchased this property in mid 1960's.

Beant Kumari's relative Gurbrinder Singh Gill, who is a resident of Amritsar, said Beant Kumari's only child named Kamla Kumari was married to one Bakhshish Singh and they had three children namely Varinder Singh Hundal, Hardial Singh Hundal and Ranjana Sohi.

"Kamla passed away on May 27, 1970, after which Bakhshish remarried one Kamaljeet Kaur. Before Beant Kumari's death, she wrote in her will, that this property would now be jointly owned by Varinder Singh Hundal and Hardial Singh Hundal, both NRIs based in UK and USA. When Bakhshish passed away in 2005, Kamaljeet unsuccessfully tried to get the property registered in her name. That was when, she came in contact with Sunny Johar," alleged Gill.

He further alleged that the property remained locked till the 2008 when Sunny took illegal possession of it.

"Both Sunny and Kamaljeet fabricated several documents, including Beant Kumari's death certificate. He used his political contacts in Ludhiana MC to get her fake death certificate, which showed that she had passed away on November 6, 1982, whereas she had passed away on November 22, 1990. When we moved a complaint against Kamaljeet, Sunny and his accomplices in 2008, Sunny started harassing us and got a false case registered against Ranjana's husband Sukhwinder Singh Sohi, a retired ASI, in 2009. At that time Sohi had the power of attorney of the said land," said Gurbrinder.

The matter was then brought to the notice of Bikram Singh Majithia as Gurbrinder's ancestral village is located in Majitha constituency of Amritsar. "But instead of helping us, he called Sunny at his house and told us that he had six 'valid' registries of the land. Majithia offered to get the matter resolved," alleged Gurbrinder Singh Gill.

Sohi said their family had been suffering since 2008. "We want the state government to help us get our property back," he said.

A senior district administration official, requesting anonymity, said they were looking into the matter.

Sunny Johar is facing charges of attempt to murder for breaking the leg of AIG (Counter Intelligence) SS Mand.