Farmer leader Jagjit Singh Dallewal has strongly condemned the alleged misuse of pre-signed blank cheques by Primary Cooperative Agricultural Development Bank (PADB), commonly known as Land Mortgage Bank, in Faridkot, while openly questioning the integrity of the probe committee set up to investigate the matter.Dallewal levelled serious allegations against the investigating panel, claiming that officials were actively shielding the accused bank employees rather than conducting a fair inquiry. He alleged the committee was favouring influential individuals and bank management instead of delivering justice to the affected farmers, and warned that farmer organisations would not tolerate any cover-up. They have demanded a transparent, unbiased probe and immediate action against those responsible.The controversy is rooted in the bank’s alleged longstanding practice of demanding pre-signed, blank cheques from farmers as collateral before advancing loans. Protesters allege that banks unethically deposit these cheques at a later stage to trigger criminal litigation and land auctions — including against farmers who claim to have already repaid their dues in full.The crisis came to a head following a tragic incident on March 23, when two debt-ridden brothers — Jaskaran Singh (38) and Jaswinder Singh (34) of the Hari Nau village — died by suicide by jumping hand-in-hand in front of a moving train near Kotkapura. Crushed under a mounting debt of nearly Rs 25 lakh, the brothers’ deaths sparked deep grief and anger across the farming community. While farm leaders acknowledged that the bank had no direct role in the tragedy, the unrelenting financial anxiety was widely seen as having pushed them to the brink.The agitation, spearheaded by the Bharti Kisan Union (BKU) Ekta Sidhupur and formally launched on March 30, drew a total of 139 distress complaints from local agriculturists. After a 70-day dharna outside the PADB branch in Faridkot, a seven-member joint committee — comprising two farmer union representatives, three senior PADB officials, and one representative each from the district civil administration and police — was constituted to conduct a formal inquiry.The panel has scheduled a 10-day hearing window, reviewing approximately 10 cases per day. The majority of aggrieved farmers are demanding that PADB introduce a transparent One-Time Settlement (OTS) scheme on the lines of those offered by private and nationalised commercial banks. Farmer organisations have hinted at a larger stir if the administration fails to act and continues to shield the accused.