Prime suspect held in multi-crore paddy scam

Six years after a multi-crore paddy scam, the Vigilance Bureau (VB) has arrested the prime suspect, Gulshan Jain, after bringing him on production warrant.

He was declared a proclaimed offender by the competent court in 2019. He along with his family members was booked by the VB for allegedly defrauding Punjab National Bank of Rs 200 crore. They owned Viru Mal Mulakh Raj Rice Mill at Jandiala Guru. They abruptly shut down the operations and reportedly fled out of the country in 2018.

The Amritsar Rural Police had registered a case under various Sections 406, 409, 420, 467, 468, 471, and 120-B of the Indian Penal Code as well as under Section 13 (1) (D) read with 13 (2) of the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988, at the Jandiala Guru police station at that time. It was later shifted to the Vigilance Bureau.

A spokesperson for the Vigilance Bureau said Gulshan Jain was arrested by the CBI recently from Indira Gandhi International Airport in New Delhi. He said among those booked in the case included directors/owners of Veeru Mal Mulkh Raj Rice Mill, who are family members of Gulshan Jain. Besides them, the VB also booked officials from the Department of Punjab Food, Civil Supplies and Consumer Affairs for their alleged involvement in the misappropriation and pilferage of paddy, amounting to approximately Rs 33.6 crore, allotted to the mill by the state government procurement agencies.

Besides, the then DFSO Raminder Singh Bath, AFSO Vipan Sharma, Inspector Gurjinder Kumar, Statistic Technical Assistant (STA) Parminder Singh Bhatia and DFSC Amritpal Singh were also involved in it. They were arrested and later a challan was presented in the court concerned against them.

At present, a Special Investigation Team (SIT) of the Vigilance Bureau was conducting further investigations under the supervision of the Additional Inspector General (AIG) of the Economic Offences Wing (EoW) in Mohali.

Besides Gulshan Jain, four other family members — Nitin Jain (son), his wife Neetu Jain, Sudhir Jain and his wife Sofia Jain — were declared proclaimed offenders (PO) by the competent court in 2019.

While setting aside his proclamation and Look Out Circular (LOC) on July this year, the Punjab and Haryana High Court ordered Gulshan Jain to surrender before the court concerned on or before September 30. In compliance with the High Court’s orders, the office of AIG, Economic Offence Wing, Punjab, provided intimation regarding this matter to the Director Bureau of Immigration, he added.

Meanwhile, accused Gulshan Jain was arrested by the CBI from Indira Gandhi International (IGI) Airport in connection with other cases registered against him by the agency.

Shut down mill and fled country in 2018

He was declared a proclaimed offender by the competent court in 2019. He along with his family members was booked by the VB for allegedly defrauding Punjab National Bank of Rs 200 crore. They owned Viru Mal Mulakh Raj Rice Mill at Jandiala Guru. They abruptly shut down the operations and reportedly fled out of the country in 2018.