Main suspect in irrigation probe goes missing, with Rs 100-cr cash : The Tribune India

Join Whatsapp Channel

Main suspect in irrigation probe goes missing, with Rs 100-cr cash

CHANDIGARH:Construction contractor Gurinder Singh, main suspect in the ongoing Vigilance Bureau investigation into the suspected favours and illegal tendering in projects of the Punjab Irrigation Department, has absconded, but not before withdrawing more than Rs 100 crore from his bank accounts.



Sanjeev Singh Bariana

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, August 30

Construction contractor Gurinder Singh, main suspect in the ongoing Vigilance Bureau investigation into the suspected favours and illegal tendering in projects of the Punjab Irrigation Department, has absconded, but not before withdrawing more than Rs 100 crore from his bank accounts.

According to sources, he was seen a day before registration of a case against him and three former chief engineers on August 18. “He has not offered to cooperate. His phone is switched off, and his whereabouts are not known,” an official said. Some people among his personal staff, including drivers and accountants, also seem to have gone off the radar.

(Follow The Tribune on Facebook; and Twitter @thetribunechd)

In what may add a new dimension to the case, Vigilance officials say they have discovered unaccounted for heavy cash withdrawals amounting to more than Rs 100 crore from Gurinder Singh’s personal bank accounts (HDFC and Punjab and Sind Bank), made after the investigation became public in May.

VB, an anti-corruption investigation wing of the state, has booked eight persons — including Gurinder Singh, three retired chief engineers, two serving executive engineers and a sub-divisional officer of the Irrigation Department. They have been charged with causing loss worth crores. Wrongful awarding of public works is suspected to have taken place under the previous SAD-BJP regime.

The bureau has prepared a list of Gurinder Singh’s properties with an estimated worth of more than Rs 100 crore, and acquired during the past 10 years. Documents show purchases of residential property in Sectors 18 and 19 of Chandigarh, as well as a micro-brewery. Gurinder Singh has also been found to have at least eight properties in Mohali, besides those in Patiala, Ludhiana and Noida, all purchased during the period under question.

Several documents supposed to have been only in the custody of the Irrigation Department were also seized from his possession.

Meanwhile, the Joint Action Committee (JAC) of irrigation engineers has called an emergency meeting on Thursday to chalk out a “plan of action” to demand a fresh inquiry into the case by a “team of professionals”.

JAC head BPS Brar said: “We are only demanding an inquiry by  technical experts, an assurance given by Secretary VK Singh on August 8, following which we called off our stir.” But if the current course of action continued, “we will be forced to resort to an indefinite agitation”.

Top News

Jailed gangster-politician Mukhtar Ansari dies of cardiac arrest

Jailed gangster-politician Mukhtar Ansari dies of cardiac arrest

Ansari was hospitalised after he complained of abdominal pai...

Delhi High Court dismisses PIL to remove Arvind Kejriwal from CM post after arrest

Delhi High Court dismisses PIL to remove Arvind Kejriwal from CM post after arrest

The bench refuses to comment on merits of the issue, saying ...

Arvind Kejriwal to be produced before Delhi court today as 6-day ED custody ends

Excise policy case: Delhi court extends ED custody of Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal till April 1

In his submissions, Kejriwal said, ‘I am named by 4 witnesse...

‘Unwarranted, unacceptable’: India on US remarks on Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal’s arrest

‘Unwarranted, unacceptable’: India on US remarks on Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal’s arrest

MEA spokesperson says India is proud of its independent and ...

Gujarat court sentences former IPS officer Sanjiv Bhatt to 20 years in jail in 1996 drug case

Gujarat court sentences former IPS officer Sanjiv Bhatt to 20 years in jail in 1996 drug case

Bhatt, who was sacked from the force in 2015, is already beh...


Cities

View All