The court of Chief Judicial Magistrate Pavleen Singh today declined the Vigilance Bureau’s request to extend the police remand of former PSPCL CMD and two others. All three accused were remanded to judicial custody for 14 days in connection with alleged irregularities in the installation of the 66 kV Basant Avenue substation.
The accused are former chairman-cum-managing director of Punjab State Power Corporation Limited (PSPCL) KD Chaudhary, former senior XEN Sanjeev Prabhakar, and Amit Garg, Director of Damini Resort and Builders Private Limited. They were produced before the court after the completion of their earlier police remand granted on Wednesday.
The Vigilance Bureau (VB) had sought an extension of police remand for further custodial interrogation, contending that the investigation was at a crucial stage and more time was needed to probe the alleged conspiracy and ascertain each accused’s role in allegedly granting undue benefits to a private developer during the substation’s installation.
VB officials told the court that during the installation of the 66 kV Basant Avenue substation, the developer of Basant Avenue Colony, allegedly in connivance with relevant PSPCL officials, had the substation installed on about 1,015 square yards within the colony premises. The bureau is investigating whether any rules, norms, or official procedures were violated.
The prosecution submitted that custodial interrogation was necessary to trace the entire chain of events and collect additional evidence on the alleged irregularities.
The defence, however, opposed the plea for an extension of remand and argued that the case was based entirely on documentary evidence already in the VB’s possession. Defence counsel further submitted that no useful purpose would be served by keeping the accused in further police custody.
Senior advocate Parupkar Ghumman, appearing for former CMD KD Chaudhary, had earlier alleged that the arrest was illegal and contended that VB had failed to comply with Supreme Court guidelines on communicating proper grounds of arrest.
After hearing arguments from both sides, the court declined the request for further police remand and sent all the accused to judicial custody for 14 days.
The case has drawn attention due to the involvement of senior retired PSPCL officials and allegations of misuse of official positions to facilitate benefits to a private developer.
