Chandigarh, April 29 -- The Punjab government has granted sanction to prosecute Madan Lal Jalalpur, former Congress MLA from Ghanaur in Patiala, in an alleged multi-crore panchayati raj fund scam, people familiar with the matter said. Besides Jalalpur, the prosecution sanction against Block Development and Panchayat Officer (BDPO) Dilwar Kaur has also been given. "The speaker has given sanction, and we have forwarded it to the Punjab Vigilance Bureau for further action", a senior government functionary added, requesting anonymity. Punjab Vidhan Sabha is the competent authority to grant prosecution sanction against any sitting and former MLAs. A senior VB official, who didn't wish to be named, confirmed that the prosecution sanction has been received from the Punjab government, and it has been forwarded to the court to resume the trial against the ex-MLA. The FIR in the case was registered by the Punjab Vigilance Bureau on May 26, 2022, and Jalalpur was nominated a year later on February 28, 2023. The case was filed under sections 406 (criminal breach of trust), 420 (cheating), 409 (criminal breach of trust by public servant), 465 (forgery), 467 (forgery of securties) and 120-B (criminal conspiracy) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), as well as Section 13(1)(A) read with Section 13(2) of the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988. An initial FIR was registered against 27 persons in the land grab case, and later, 34 persons, including officials and employees of government and non-government organisations, were nominated. At least 10 firms were also booked. Jalalpur had obtained pre-arrest bail in this case. The case pertains to 1,104 acres of land in five villages, specifically Akkri, Sehra, Sehri, Takhtumajra and Pabra in the Shambhu block of Patiala district that was acquired for the Amritsar-Kolkata corridor. An amount of Rs.205 crore was paid for this land. Additionally, leaseholders of the panchayat's land were also paid Rs.97.8 crore, separately. This money was siphoned off, the VB probe said. The challan was presented in the court in the year 2024, but the trial against Jalalpur could not start due to the lack of a prosecution sanction. During the investigation, the VB found that 30% of the funds allocated were supposed to be deposited in the account of the secretary's wages of the Block Development and Panchayat Officer (BDPO) office, which was not done properly. "Also, as per rules, only 10% of the remaining funds were intended for the development of these five villages, while the accused overspent significantly, using around Rs.65 crore on papers for development projects. Some of these projects existed only on paper, and the actual work completed did not meet the required technical specifications," the VB probe said....