J A L A N D H A R    E D I T I O N

Mastermind of bank fraud held
Phagwara, September 8
The police has arrested renowned industrialist Vikram Seth, master mind of the huge fraud, who with the connivances of a former bank manager and four others cheated the Bank of Baroda for Rs 3.60 crores by taking loans with fake documents.

Fissures surface in SAD-BJP alliance in Batala
Batala, September 8
Fissures have surfaced within the SAD-BJP alliance in the district with former MLA and Batala SAD area chief L.S Lodhinangal queering the pitch for the BJP by insisting that a SAD man be made the chairman of the local Improvement Trust.

Mastermind of bank fraud held
Our Correspondent

Phagwara, September 8
The police has arrested renowned industrialist Vikram Seth, master mind of the huge fraud, who with the connivances of a former bank manager and four others cheated the Bank of Baroda for Rs 3.60 crores by taking loans with fake documents.

The police has found transaction of deposits of more than Rs one crore in the account of the UR Sales Pvt Ltd and BL Seth Coal Ltd, Phagwara, which belongs to Vikram Seth. He was arrested under Sections 420,465,467,468,471 and 120B of the IPC.

The accused was produced before a local judicial magistrate who sent him in police remand for three days for further interrogations. He would be produced before the court on September 11.

The police teams are raiding at various places to nab his other accomplices including manager Kuldip Singh, provisional officer Mohit Mahajan, Subhash Mandal and his son Ashok Kumar and Surinder Chhabrra of Moga.

The case of fraud has been brought to light by an investigation done by Deputy Commissioner, Kapurthala, D.S Mangat in the month of July and Phagwara police was instructed to book the accused. Former SP Phagwara HPS khakh investigated and booked manager of the bank Kuldip Singh and provisional officer Mohit Mahajan, under section 420 and120-B of the IPC on the charges of giving loans of Rs 3.60 crores to four different industrial units of Goraya and Phagwara by mortgaging a duplicate registration deed of 11 kanals 18 marlas of land.

The bank officers in connivances with the other accused allotted loans of Rs 90 lakhs each to four firms of Goraya namely Payal Enterprises, Subhash Construction, Pankaj Manfacturing and Subhash Shuttering and Building Material Goraya. Interestingly real registration deed was still lying with the real owner Harpal Singh. The police are also searching for the accused including the person who posed as Harpal Singh.

Fissures surface in SAD-BJP alliance in Batala
Ravi Dhaliwal/TNS

Batala, September 8
Fissures have surfaced within the SAD-BJP alliance in the district with former MLA and Batala SAD area chief L.S Lodhinangal queering the pitch for the BJP by insisting that a SAD man be made the chairman of the local Improvement Trust.

Over the last several years, it has been the prerogative of the BJP to install one of its leaders as the chairman. However, this time the permutations and combinations have changed as under the seat sharing arrangement between the two alliance partners, the Batala seat was given to the SAD just ahead of the 2012 assembly elections. It is pertinent to mention here that during the 2007, 2002, 1997 and 1992 elections the seat was held by the BJP who used to field its candidate.

However, now Lodhinangal’s logic is that since the seat has been allotted to the SAD, it is the prerogative of the party to install its own man as the IT chairman.

For the last several days Lodhinangal has been camping in Chandigarh trying to convince the powers-that-be to let a senior Akali leader be installed as the chairman. He also spoke to the Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal about the political significance of taking the IT top post out of the BJP fold when he met the CM at Sewa Singh Sekhwan’s residence during the Sangat Darshan programme on September 2.

There are three entities in the steel town-the Municipal Committee, the Market Committee and the Improvement Trust-which are controlled by either the SAD or the BJP. The MC has 33 wards and out of which 26 have been allotted to the BJP while 7 have been given to the SAD. The arithmetic goes in favour of the BJP following which the MC President is always a BJP man while the vice-president is from the SAD. The chairmanship of the market committee has been given to the Akalis while the vice- chairmanship is the prerogative of the BJP.

Now with the Batala Vidhan Sabha seat being given to the Akalis, following which Lodhinangal contested but lost in the 2012 elections, the stakes to bag the IT chairmanship have become too high for comfort for either of the two parties.

However, BJP district president Suresh Bhatia says his party will not forgo its claim over the top IT post. “Let the SAD leaders say what they want but my party will not forgo its claim over the post,” he said.