Bar association warns of protest if SIT fails to arrest senior officials involved in land fraud
Tuesday, 29 AUGUST 2023 | PNS | DEHRADUN
The president of Dehradun Bar Association Anil Sharma stated that advocates will protest if the police do not arrest officials holding senior posts in the administration who are actually responsible for scams in the registrar’s office. The Special Investigation Team (SIT) arrested senior advocate Kamal Virmani late on Saturday on charges of his involvement in the irregularities in the registrar’s office of Dehradun. Many advocates are furious following these allegations levelled against Virmani stating that the police are not arresting senior officials who are reportedly the real culprits in the case. Sharma said that the SIT has accused Virmani of being in close contact with another accused KP Singh and of changing the original files of properties in the record room which is baseless. “Is it that easy for an advocate to change property documents without it being noticed by senior officials like additional district magistrate, sub divisional magistrate, Tehsildar and Nayab Tehsildar, among others? Why none of these officials who were posted at that time have been called for questioning? Why has the SIT not yet arrested any official from the administration who is actually responsible for managing the work,” questioned Sharma. He said that KP Singh was Virmani’s client and this cannot be used to establish his association with the scam only because Singh was found to be involved. He said, “The bar association condemns such frauds and wants the guilty parties to be punished- the actual culprits who actually orchestrated these scams over the years. It is not possible that the scam was conducted at such a grand level without the involvement of senior officials from the administration.” He said that if the SIT fails to act against such officials, the advocates of the association will protest and if required, will go to the High Court or Supreme Court for justice and demand a CBI inquiry.