Punjab IAS officer arrested for fraudulent govt.land deal

The 1998 batch IAS officer Vikas Garg was arrested by the Punjab Vigilance Bureau on Friday for his allleged involvement in a fraudulent land deal in which he is stated to have accepted heavy bribe.

Garg was suspended from service last month and has been on the run for more than two months. His anticipatory bail plea was turned down earlier, both, by the Supreme Court and the Punjab and haryana high court.

According to the Vigilance investigations, as a deputy commission in Patiala, Garg, along with five other revenue officials, fraudulently sold a piece of government land in the heart of the city to a private party for Rs 250 crore. The revenue records of  the piece of land , measuring more than 6000 sq yards, were reportedly tampered with  the connivance of the deputy commissioner to favour a private group of  real estate dealers.