Shooter Abhinav Bindra faces trouble over land

CHANDIGARH - India’s only gold medal winning Olympian, shooter Abhinav Bindra’s ‘plot’ may be in trouble.

Bindra won a 500 sq yard plot at the prized Aerocity township in Mohali town of Punjab, 10 km from here, in draw of lots Saturday. But his application will face scrutiny from the Greater Mohali Area Development Authority (GMADA).

The reason? The champion shooter allegedly misrepresented facts while applying for the plot under the sports category.

Bindra, who will represent India in the Commonwealth Games, could not be contacted.

Bindra, whose father is billionaire industrialist A.S. Bindra and lives in a sprawling farmhouse 15 km from Chandigarh, had applied for the Aerocity plot earlier this year.

Four people applied in the sports category, but Bindra was lucky and bagged the plot. GMADA is to sell the plot to applicants for just Rs.60 lakh though its market price is around Rs.4-5 crore.

GMADA officials, requesting anonymity, said Bindra’s application would be scrutinized as he has given an undertaking that he has never before availed the benefit of allotment of a plot, house or flat in any scheme under the sports reserved category from any Punjab government agency.

“No one can benefit from the same category twice,” a senior GMADA official said.

According to the GMADA official, in 2002 Bindra applied and got a similar 500 sq yard plot from the Punjab Urban Development Authority (PUDA) under the sports category. He paid only Rs.175,000 at the time.

In 2006, Bindra sold off the plot to a property dealer in Mohali for a market price of Rs.1 crore, the official added.

Under GMADA rules, providing false information in the application will lead to forfeiture of the initial deposit amount for the plot. Authorities can also initiate criminal action against the applicant.

“We will not spare anyone who has submitted a wrong undertaking. We will initiate criminal action, if necessary,” said GMADA additional chief administrator Balwinder Singh.