Bidder’s address bares Rana link

CHANDIGARH: Though Irrigation Minister Rana Gurjit Singh has been trying to dissociate from four of his employees who participated in the sand mining auctions by claiming they had quit his service before the bids, fresh information obtained by The Tribune confirms his link with one of the bidders.

Vishav Bharti

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, January 3

Though Irrigation Minister Rana Gurjit Singh has been trying to dissociate from four of his employees who participated in the sand mining auctions by claiming they had quit his service before the bids, fresh information obtained by The Tribune confirms his link with one of the bidders.

While the minister’s cook Amit Bahadur and deputy general manager Kulwinder Pal Singh bagged two mines, two other employees, Balraj Singh and Gurinder Singh, had made successful bids but failed to deposit the required first payment and were thus not allotted the mines.

Balraj Singh had successfully bid at Rs 9.11 crore for a sand mine at Bairsal village in Nawanshahr district. In the information furnished to the department, he has mentioned his residential address as Rana Sugar Mill located in Butter Siviya village in Amritsar district. This mill is owned by Rana Gurjit Singh’s family.

In a story on May 25, The Tribune had highlighted how four persons, including Balraj Singh, who had bagged a mining contract at Bairsal were employees of the minister. The minister had subsequently claimed that they had left his service just before they participated in the auctions. However, the residential address given in the records reaffirms the link between the minister and Balraj Singh.

Earlier, Amit Bahadur and Kulwinder Pal Singh had told The Tribune that they were employees of Rana Gurjit Singh.

The Tribune has also reported that along with Amit Bahadur, Balraj Singh was also a director in various companies either established by Rana Gurjit Singh or registered at the address (SCO 51-52, Sector 8-C, Chandigarh) from where the Rana family manages its businesses. Balraj Singh had become director in four companies — Rana Sugar & Power; Century Agros; RJ Tefab; and Flawless Traders — between August 18 and September 30, 2016.

However, within a week after The Tribune broke the story, Balraj Singh resigned from the directorship of three of the four companies.

Fresh information