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Vigilance seeks appointment from Badal
Disproportionate assets case
Poonam Batth
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, September 26
The Punjab Vigilance Bureau has sought an appointment with former Chief Minister and Akali Dal chief Parkash Singh Badal, for questioning him regarding the properties allegedly owned by him and members of his family in a disproportionate assets case.

The notice was served upon Mr Badal at his official residence in Sector 2 by a special messenger of the bureau, it is learnt. Mr Badal promised to get back to them in a day or two after checking his engagement schedule. He has been asked to confirm the date, place and time of appointment for questioning at the earliest.

A senior official of the bureau, who has been closely associated with the investigations in the case, said the questioning of the former Chief Minister, his wife and son would be done in stages.

The officer said: “Being an elderly politician, we have shown Mr Badal due respect by seeking an appointment.” This would be followed by the questioning of his wife, Mrs Surinder Kaur, and his son, Mr Sukhbir Badal. The latter, who had reportedly twice ignored the bureau messages seeking details about the private companies that had invested in Orbit Resorts, would now be summoned.

About the assessment of various properties raided and inspected by the Vigilance, he said: “Enough evidence of disproportionate assets and money laundering has been found against the Badals during the course of investigations. However, the final figures to be mentioned in the evaluation chart are still being compiled, since a senior police official, who had recently gone abroad to probe the SAD leader’s properties was yet to finalise his report. These facts have also to be incorporated in the final tally to be mentioned in the charge sheet.” The charge sheet is likely to be filed in the Special Court at Ropar, by the end of October.

The official disclosed that the estimates of the properties in the country alone would be to the tune of Rs 500 crore, keeping in view the sophisticated construction material used in their Sector 9, Chandigarh, residence, Orbit Resorts in Gurgaon and the Balasar farmhouse. While Mr Badal’s son, Sukhbir Badal, has claimed to have spent Rs 90 lakh on the renovation of the Sector 9 house, officials of the bureau claim that anything between Rs 3 crore and Rs 4 crore has been spent on rebuilding the house. Similarly, Sukhbir claims to have invested around Rs 60 crore in the Orbit Resorts complex but the officials estimate the total expenditure to be around Rs 150 crore.