M A I N   N E W S

IT sleuths seal house of Gaganjit Barnala
Anuja Jaiswal/TNS

Chandigarh, September 8
A few days after former Tamil Nadu Governor and senior Akali leader Surjit Singh Barnala announced his return to active politics, a real estate firm in which his son Gaganjit Singh is one of the directors was raided by Income Tax officials today. Gaganjit’s house was sealed.

The raid on Manohar Singh and Company as well as Chinar, another real estate group, was part of a major operation launched by the IT sleuths to unearth undeclared wealth. A total of 16 premises, residential and official, of the two companies were raided in the city and its vicinity. Though officials were tight-lipped about the seizures, it’s learnt that they took several incriminating documents into possession.

Jaswant Singh, Director-General (Investigation), said they had decided to seal Gaganjit’s house since he had been evasive. “Waiting for him since morning, we were left with no option but to seal his house,” he explained.

It is learnt that 170 personnel of the IT Department simultaneously carried out the raids at the official and residential premises of the promoters and directors of the two groups in Panchkula, Chandigarh and Delhi. Gaganjit was arrested in 2006 on allegations of raping his maid, but the victim went back on her statement later.