Overview
- The Punjab Vigilance Bureau’s Economic Offences Wing arrested former PSPCL CMD K D Chaudhary, retired XEN Sanjeev Prabhakar and builder Amit Garg following action that sources say took place on Wednesday.
- The agency registered a case under Sections 409 and 420 of the IPC and relevant provisions of the Prevention of Corruption Act and says further arrests and probes of other officials are being pursued.
- VB alleges the 66 KV substation was installed on 1,015 sq yards inside the private Basant Avenue colony between 2014–15 without proper NOC checks or a combined load assessment, steps that would have made the developer bear the cost.
- Officials say the site lies outside municipal limits, about 3 km from Pakhowal Link Road, lacks a paved access road and caused an estimated loss of roughly Rs 10 crore to the power utility.
- The arrests have drawn solidarity from the state electricity engineers’ association, informal claims within PSPCL of political motive, and raise questions about recovering costs from developers and enforcing Ministry of Power rules on substation approvals.