Police to auction Sube Singh’s properties after court lifts stay

After a local court on Tuesday vacated the stay on plots seized from Sube Singh, a suspected gangster wanted by the police for multiple criminal cases, police officials said they will go ahead with their plan to auction the properties, estimated to be worth ₹6 crore.

Singh is wanted in more than a dozen cases of murder, attempt to murder and extortion in Gurugram and Rewari. The police departments of the two districts have announced rewards amounting to ₹4 lakh for information leading to Singh’s arrest. He was declared a proclaimed offender by a district court in April 2018. His wife, who was a sarpanch, is also believed to be on the run for the past two years, the police said. Singh’s mother has been fighting the case in court.

Singh’s properties comprise of two plots, one of 1.3 acres in Bar Gujjar village near Manesar and another of 0.8 acres in Manesar industrial area, the police said. In 2019, the district administration tried to auction the properties twice with an aim to weaken the financial base of the gangster, who is allegedly on the run. However, no one showed up to buy the land at that time. The police said they would now restart the auction process.

Gurugram police seized the property of Singh in January 2019. Police commissioner KK Rao said that he got a police post constructed on one of the plots the same year. “The police announced an auction of two properties of a wanted gangster, but before it could be sold, the family members got a stay from a local court in March 2019. He was a close aide of Kaushal (a Gurugram gangster) but due to financial issues, they parted ways and started independent operations. It is the first of its kind initiative to curb the financial muscle of criminals in the district,” he said.

The police said that while one of the plots was Singh’s ancestral property and was used for farming, the other one was purchased three to four years ago.

Rao said the entire auction process will be carried out under police surveillance and they will ensure that buyers are not targeted or harmed by the gangsters. “We wrote to the tehsildar on Wednesday to start the process and to place an advertisement for the same. The auction will be announced for the next week,” said Hitesh Yadav, assistant commissioner of police (Manesar).

Yadav said that despite the properties being attached by the police in February 2019, the auction failed and a stay order followed. An auction was planned twice, at Bar Gujjar village and Manesar, but no interested buyer showed up. “It has already happened twice as people wait and watch for the reaction from the gangster’s family members. It seemed that people were scared to even come to witness the auction process. This time, we are inviting more people through tenders,” said Yadav.

The police have prepared a list of more than 50 gangsters whose properties will be attached in court this year. A team of revenue officials has submitted a list of verified properties of the gangsters whose assets are to be attached. The police said the move is aimed at diminishing the financial muscle of criminals across the district.

The police, in 2019, announced the decision to seize ill-gotten properties of criminals and auction the same.