Chandigarh, June 20
The Punjab Vigilance Bureau today registered a case of disproportionate assets under the Prevention of Corruption Act against former Chief Minister Amarinder Singh, his son Raninder Singh and his media adviser B.I.S Chahal. A similar case has been registered against three government functionaries and two others.
The case has been registered under Sections 789, 13, 131-d and e under the Prevention of Corruption Act and the Section 120 of the IPC at the Patiala Vigilance Bureau Station today. Capt Amarinder Singh and his son have been asked to report for questioning at the Patiala circuit house on July 6 in this regard.
Amarinder and his family have been accused of amassing a huge amount of property with the vigilance department claiming that the family has bought four flats each in Noida and Goa besides property in Dubai, Sweden, the United States, Canada and the
United Kingdom. He is also accused of depositing $2 lakh in a Swiss account besides taking bribes while passing mega projects.
The former Chief Minister, however, claimed that the entire case was a deliberate attempt made by the SAD in league with his detractors in the Punjab Congress to forestall his return to active politics in the state. Amarinder said the vigilance department had deliberately called him to answer the charges two-and-a-half weeks from now because a decision on the new organisational structure of the Punjab Pradesh Congress was also likely to happen during this period.
Capt Amarinder Singh demanded that the entire case should be handed over to the external affairs ministry for investigation. “The revenue intelligence can hold an impartial inquiry into the case”, he said adding as far as he was concerned he only owned one flat abroad, in Dubai, to buy which he had taken approval from the union government.
According to the details of the FIR, the vigilance department is hinging its case on the income tax returns filed by Amarinder as well as Raninder. The two have given their income for the year 2001-02 as Rs 4.81 lakh and Rs 4.93 lakh, respectively. However, the Vigilance sources said from 2002 to 2007, the father-son showed an income of Rs 6 crore. The sources said an amount of Rs 60 lakh alone was paid as power bills of New Moti Bagh palace, residence of Amarinder, during this period.
The Vigilance sources claim that Chetan Gupta, who is alleged to be involved in the city centre scam also, purchased four flats for Amarinder in Noida and Goa. He is also accused of purchasing a factory in Baddi, 12 bighas of land in Majri village near Kharar and property worth Rs 1.20 crore for Amarinder in Faridabad. The vigilance department claims as much as Rs 21.62 crore belonging to the father-son duo is deposited in the account of Chetan Gupta.
The sources said it would also press for investigation of alleged flats procured by Amarinder abroad. It has also claimed that Raninder Singh purchased 109 bighas of land at Main village near Patiala at a cost of Rs 1.90 crore.
The department had detected 20 accounts of family members including Amarinder’s wife Preneet Kaur, who is an MP from Patiala, and his daughter-in-law Reshma. However, only Amarinder and Raninder have been named in the FIR. Sources said no arrests were being made in the case and that action would be taken only after due investigation.
