Mohali, June 23 -- Months after it surfaced that nearly 68 bighas and 14 biswas of shamlat land (common land) in Dera Bassi's Ballopur village, which was leased out to Universal Educational Society (UES), was mortgaged to raise loans in violation of lease conditions, police booked a former sarpanch, two former panchayat members and the president of the educational society for cheating and forgery. The society, which runs the Universal Group of Institutions in Lalru, had been allotted the land for 33 years by the Punjab government for educational purposes. An inquiry by the district development and panchayat officer (DDPO), Mohali, later revealed that the accused had interpolated the original lease deed by inserting a provision that permitted loans to be raised against the leasedland. The DDPO's report stated that the insertion was contrary to the Punjab government's original sanction letter, executed on February 4, 2009. While the original deed allowed the society to raise funds for construction and development activities on the leased land, it did not permit the land itself to be mortgaged or used as collateral security for loans. Probe authorities had further found that the UES, after obtaining loans from the Punjab National Bank (PNB), had defaulted on repayment and the loan account was classified as a non-performing asset (NPA) on December 15, 2021. The PNB had approached the Debt Recovery Tribunal, Chandigarh, on January 27, 2023, seeking permission to sell the mortgaged land for recovery of the outstanding amount. Documents filed before the tribunal reportedly reflected liabilities of around Rs.46 crore, the probe authorities stated. Based on the inquiry findings, the DDPO recommended criminal action against former Ballopur sarpanch Chhoti Devi and UES president Gurpreet Singh. After legal scrutiny and approval from senior police officers, Dera Bassi police registered an FIR against the duo and two panchayat members, identified as Maan Singh and Mohan Lal, under Sections 318(4) (cheating), 336(2)/336(3)/338 (forgery), 340(2) (using forged documents) and 61(2) (criminal conspiracy) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita. Efforts to contact the UES president did not elicit any response....