Amritsar, July 27: Punjab Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh and 17 others were on Friday acquitted of all charges by a Mohali court in the 2008 Amritsar Improvement Trust (AIT) scam. Mohali Special Judge Jaswinder Singh ordered discharging of all named as accused in the case while accepting the closure report filed by the Punjab Vigilance Bureau. Three of those acquitted, including former Punjab Vidhan Sabha Speaker Dr Kewal Krishan, are dead.

The Vigilance Bureau had registered the case in 2008 on the recommendation of the Punjab Vidhan Sabha. The alleged scam pertains to granting exemption for transferring 32.1 acre prime land of the AIT to a private developer.

In September 2008, the vigilance bureau had registered an FIR under Sections 420 (cheating), 467 (forgery of valuable security, will, etc) and 468 (forgery for purpose of cheating), 471 (using a forged document) and 120-B (criminal conspiracy) of the Indian Penal Code.

Soon after the verdict today, Captain Singh tweeted, "Justice has finally prevailed after a decade in the Amritsar Improvement Trust case. It’s been proved that allegations were motivated, borne out of sheer political vendetta. Politics has no place for such motivated action against opponents. Thank the almighty and my legal team."

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Jul 27, 2018 12:59 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).