He has been approaching the police for a criminal action against his brother and officials but the police is dragging its feet to uncover a major land grabbing racket suspected to have been flourishing by tinkering with revenue records in the area.

In his complaint to the SSP Patiala filed on January 4, Manmohan Singh alleged that his brother Atar Singh in connivance with a former Gunike sarpanch Bakhsish Singh, Housefed employees Sher Singh, Gurjant Singh and Darshan Kumar and Tehsildar Baljit Singh Sidhu allegedly forged documents and took the loan from Punjab Housefed against his land.

Interestingly, Atar Singh, when asked about the accusations leveled by his brother, said that he had returned the loan money about a month-and -half back by selling his land within couple of years despite the fact the repayment schedule was fixed for 15 years.

He said "now there is no question of fraud." When asked if he was accused of forging fake affidavits, he said the patwari mistakenly gave the numbers of the land belonging to his brother. He also claimed the DSP was convinced of his arguments.

Bakhsish Singh, who was Sarpanch of the village between 1998 and 2003 and whose term had expired in June, 2003, attested a forged affidavit made on behalf of Manmohan in July, 2003, mentioning that the complainant was taking a loan from Punjab Housefed, Chandigarh, by mortgaging his land.

He further said Vijay Kumar, who works as a typist and Darshan Khan, who is a nephew of Bakhsish Singh, allegedly made all the forged documents. He said neither he nor his father Kartar Singh were present in the office of Tehsildar when Vijay Kumar and Bakhsish Khan stood witnesses to the affidavit.

Manmohan Singh came to know about the fraud when he went to tehsildar's office to get a certificate that he had no loan outstanding against him. To his utter surprise, the records mentioned that Atar Singh had taken a loan of Rs 1.85 lakh on his land.

Mr Lal Singh, the Patwari from Nabha, confirmed that Atar Singh obtained the registry of the land by allegedly producing fake affidavits on which Vijay Kumar and Bakhsish Singh put their signatures as witnesses. Atar Singh later took loan by pledging that registry.

When asked, Mr Baljit Singh Sidhu, who was the Tehsildar of Nabha when the registry was made in 2003, said he had to sign thousands of files daily and it was impossible for him to "check" each of the document presented before him.

Sher Singh, the inspector, Punjab Housefed Office, Nabha, said the loan was sanctioned on the basis of registry pledged to Housefed. He further said, "Atar Singh had returned the amount of loan about a month ago." While a block president of Housefed, Mr Tejinder Singh, said Manmohan Singh had no solid proof to support his accusations.

DSP, Nabha, Mr Shamsher Singh Boparai, said the police was investigating the case.