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OTHER STORIES RELATED TO NATION Sidhu's Sordid Saga Sweepstake

Good Punjabis may call it the scandal in the Pind (village). The rest of the world is left groping for definitions to describe the audacious ways of Ravinder Pal Singh Sidhu, chairman of the Punjab Public Service Commission (PPSC) and kingpin of a recruitment swindle that the police say may be worth Rs 100 crore.

LORD OF LURE: Sidhu presided over the most audacious bribery in Punjab

Sidhu had his own rate card: DSP's job for Rs 75 lakh, panchayat officer's for Rs 30 lakh and college lecturer's for Rs 10 lakh.

At about this time every year, Sidhu would pack his bags, buy himself a business-class ticket and be off for the summer to Europe or the US. This time he's been forced to check into a smelly, mosquito-infested cell in the Patiala Central Jail. He's facing charges under the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988, the Excise Act and the Arms Act. The man who lorded over the most audacious bribery binge in Punjab's history has been reduced to pleading for B-class prison facilities, pointing to the fact that he is a postgraduate and an income-tax payer.

For just short of six years, Sidhu has been chairman of the PPSC. The commission's brief is to impartially recruit people into state government jobs from the Punjab Civil Service (PCS) downwards. Rather than be a neutral referee, Sidhu sold jobs. He had his own rate card-a deputy superintendent of police's job for Rs 75 lakh, a block development or panchayat officer's for Rs 30 lakh and a college lecturer's for a humble Rs 10 lakh.

MOUND OF GREED: Sidhu operated in conjunction with even his mother (below), and touts like Jagman (above) who has turned approver

Cash and property worth Rs 27 crore have been recovered.

It is not Sidhu's criminality that is astonishing but the fact that he compromised almost the entire political class. He was appointed by a Congress chief minister, H.S. Brar, but prospered through the reign of the Akali Dal (1997-2002). He was special correspondent for The Hindu-his earlier employers included The Indian Express and The Tribune-when he entered Brar's inner circle.

The opening gambit was a series of laudatory articles extolling Brar as "Punjab's Gandhi". What sealed the relationship, the Chandigarh grapevine insists, was a promise to marry Brar's daughter. Whatever the reason, Sidhu found himself chairman of a constitutional body. Soon he also found new friends, the Brars being pushed to the background.

When Parkash Singh Badal became chief minister, Sidhu should have been worried. His fears were put to rest after meeting "friends and family members of the chief minister". It was apparently agreed Sidhu would be allowed to function undisturbed. In turn, he would "help" candidates close to Akali politicians. Admits Captain Kanwaljit Singh, Badal's finance minister: "Sidhu operated through extra-constitutional centres of power. Not reining in his corruption was a political blunder." It would certainly seem so.

When the Congress came to office in February, it found it politically advantageous (see box) to "expose" the wrongdoings of the Akalis. Sidhu was the first casualty. A month ago, Excise Inspector Bhupjit Singh offered Sidhu Rs 35 lakh for a nomination to the PCS. On March 25, he walked into the PPSC's Chandigarh office and paid Sidhu Rs 5 lakh. That's when the Vigilance Bureau's (VB's) officers made their entry. The sting operation was a success.

Dogged investigations by a 20-member vigilance team have put a question mark on all the 3,446 recruitments made during Sidhu's tenure. Additionally, 639 recruitments were made in the winter of 2001. Yet to be notified, these have now been annulled by the Amarinder Singh Government. Among the (un)lucky 639 are the son (PCS) and and son-in-law (Punjab Police) of Badal's personal attendant. The child of a high court judge is also among the Sidhu selections.

What is evoking almost voyeuristic pleasure is the public spectacle of Sidhu's riches. On April 19, currency notes amounting to Rs 8.16 crore emerged from the bank lockers of one of his associates. So far, the authorities have identified Rs 27 crore worth of cash or other properties (see box).

Sidhu operated in conjunction with his family. While he is divorced-friends say personal failure drove him to pathological greed-he bought shares worth at least Rs 69 lakh in the name of his daughter, Raisa. His mother Pritpal Kaur-now on the run from the police-often hosted candidates who doctored answer sheets, while Reetinder Singh and Ajinder Kaur-Sidhu's US-based brother and sister-in-law-laundered the money. The police are probing a specific case of Rs 1.36 crore being transferred to Reetinder's accounts in the US and Luxembourg. Says Jaskaran Singh, SP, VB: "There is a clear hawala trail to foreign countries."

So far, Rs 6.94 crore has been discovered in saving accounts in the name of Sidhu, his mother, brother and his wife, and the Presstime Information Services Ltd-Sidhu's share trading firm. This, of course, does not include investments abroad or as yet unknown accounts in India. Sidhu is known to have a bank account in at least Dallas, Texas, and an American credit card. He was also, as accomplice Jagman Singh told the police, in the habit of opening accounts all over Punjab under fictitious names. So his bounty still lies undiscovered.

Sidhu hasn't done much talking. It was only after the investigators cracked the password of his computer that they got their first clues. For a start, it led the VB to Jagman who sang like a canary. To quote A.P. Pandey, director, VB, "It became a more you dig, more you find affair."

Jagman, in whose house the police found Rs 1.18 crore just lying around, was one of at least five touts Sidhu operated through. "It was a high-profit, no-risk trade," he now says. Once Sidhu cut a deal, Jagman or another tout became the interface between the taker and the giver. Sidhu was a consummate service provider, even running a "home delivery" scheme for VIP customers.

Aside from political connivance, there were two reasons for Sidhu's success. One, removing a PSC chairman is very complicated. It needs a reference to the President, who asks the chief justice of India to set up a Supreme Court commission of inquiry. The commission submits a report to the President and then matters move to the executive. Sidhu correctly guessed the Akali government wasn't going to go into such complications.

Next Sidhu established his bloc in the PPSC, which has six members who may retire at different times. He had to ensure that at least four of the six (including himself) would vote together. He induced members through various means (see box). His group changed the rules of procedure. By a majority vote, it replaced the word "commission" in its rulebook with the word "chairman". The PPSC now became a one-man show, quasi-legally.

Not everyone took it lying down. A year ago, three members-Amarjit Singh Chawla, Harjit Kaur Randhawa and R.C. Gupta-began boycotting the PPSC's proceedings. They wrote at least 100 letters to Sidhu, the Badal government and the governor, protesting against the chairman's "monopoly". Even the high court was moved but it vain. Says Chawla, nominated to the PPSC in 2000: "He subverted the checks and balances and reduced the entire selection procedure to a farce."

Sidhu may be punished but a larger problem remains. It is going to be impossible to figure exactly who was recruited fairly and who fraudulently in his tenure. Those who have paid their way into service are going to leave no stone unturned to "recover their investment". Sidhu's game may be up but in the villages and towns of Punjab, his proteges run free-no doubt shackling Punjab with their corruption.