Jagraon (Ludhiana) , September 23
The Jagraon police today announced a cash award of 1 lakh for information about the whereabouts of former SSP Gurcharan Singh Pherurai who has absconded. It released documentary proof that he had amassed nami and benami property worth more than Rs 20 crore. The recovery of over Rs 54 lakh from several Raikot-based commission agents (arhtiyas), who were allegedly used by the accused for laundering his ill gotten wealth was also disclosed.

The police has also established that Rs 1 crore was recently withdrawn from some of the bank accounts of former SSP and his close relatives. Strengthening the case of fake currency against the elusive cop, the police also claimed that it had recovered Rs 5.20 lakh of fake currency from one of his houses in Pherurai village.

Addressing a press conference at the Jagraon police headquarters, IG (Zonal) S.K. Sharma, DIG Mohammed Mustafa, and Jagraon SSP Mukhwinder Singh Chhina, said one of other major revelations was that in one property, the wife of the accused, Inderjit Kaur, has described herself as a divorcee of Gurcharan Singh Pherurai in order to circumvent the law.

Regarding the controversy on the delay in police action against the former SSP, Mr Sharma said Pherurai had first expressed his desire to surrender, but it was a ploy to gain time. After he changed his mind, the police went on the offensive. He said the police had not received any feelers from him to surrender ever since a case was registered against him.

This is the first time that the police has released documentary proof against Pherurai. The officers showed mediapersons huge stacks of lakhs of rupees that were recovered from commission agents.

The recovery upheld news reports appearing in The Tribune about the involvement of commission agents in the case. The police has also registered a fresh case against Pherurai and his brother Gurmail Singh after recovering fake currency from their house.

Responding to questions, Mr Sharma said though cases have been registered against Pherurai, his son, daughter and brother, the police was raiding all possible hideouts to nab any relative they could.

Mr Sharma said so far the police did not have any evidence suggesting that some senior officer of Pherurai was hand-in-glove with him. He assured that if the police got a lead in this context, action would be taken against the official concerned.

Though there is no definite clue about the whereabouts of Pherurai at this stage, the officials said they have information that he was out of Punjab. The family is together. A look out notice has been sent to international airports to prevent his flight from the country, Mr Sharma pointed out.

Mr Chhina said the special investigation team had collected documentary proof of nami and benami properties worth over Rs 20 crore in the name of Pherurai and his family members. It was much more than their known source of income, he added.

Besides the earlier evidence, two bank accounts in the Oriental Bank of Commerce, Bassian, Jagraon and Bank of India, Raikot, have come to notice, where an amount of Rs 1.48 crore has been deposited since the past five years by Inderjit Kaur, wife of Pherurai, his son Gurjit Singh and brother Gurmail Singh. Now the amount left in these banks is Rs 49,748 only. The rest has been withdrawn, he added.