Chandigarh, Dec. 6 -- The Punjab Vigilance Bureau (VB) has decided to file a cancellation report in May 22, 2024, criminal case registered against media baron Barjinder Singh Hamdard and others, alleging irregularities in the construction of the Jang-e-Azadi memorial in Jalandhar, the government told the high court. Hamdard, who served as managing committee president, Jang-e-Azadi Memorial Foundation and Ajit Group of newspapers editor-in-chief and others were roped in as accused in the case registered under the Prevention of Corruption Act and various other offences. Hamdard, who was instrumental in the conception and construction of the project since 2012, quit as member secretary of the Jang-e-Azadi Memorial Foundation and as its managing committee president on April 10, 2024, blaming the Bhagwant Mann-led Aam Aadmi Party government of "repeatedly maligning the name of the memorial by sending police and vigilance teams". Spread over 25 acres at Kartarpur and located 18km from Jalandhar, the Rs.315 crore Jang-e-Azadi memorial was the Shiromani Akali Dal-BJP government's dream project. The first phase was opened for the public in 2016. The memorial is a unique piece of art which has a minaret, a seminar hall, an auditorium, a movie hall, a cafeteria, a library, an open-air theatre for laser show and an amphitheatre. In March 2024, the VB initiated the probe after a complaint regarding irregularities in the financial execution of the project. During a hearing in the high court, on instructions from DSP (Vigilance Unit), Ashwani Kumar, the state's counsel told the court that the investigating agency is in the process of preparing a cancellation report in case FIR no. 09, dated 22.05.2024, registered under Sections 406, 409, 420, 465, 467, 468, 471, 120-B of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) read with Sections 13(1)(A) and 13(2) of the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988, which will be presented in court within four weeks. Senior advocate, RS Cheema, who appeared for Hamdard, said that it meant that after investigating the case, the probe agency has found that the case is not made out against the accused persons. "Hence, the vigilance bureau will file a closure report in regard to the FIR before the competent court," he added. The information was given during the hearing of petitions from Hamdard, 2008-batch IAS officer, Vinay Bublani and Raj Rewal, a prominent Indian Architect seeking quashing of the FIR or handing over the probe to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI). There are 20 odd others also who were booked in the May 22 criminal case. The VB had also arrested 15 people, including Ludhiana-based builder Deepak Singal and 14 PWD officials, in the case. Hamdard's allegations were that the government's move was to compel him to "succumb to the government pressure and publish their paid news/advertisements in the form of news articles and thereby forgo his ethics in a bid of the state to spread misinformation and influence the electorate."...