Income Tax raids at Rana group offices in Chandigarh

Tribune News Service

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Chandigarh, February 16

The Income Tax department on Friday raided offices of Rana Group of Companies, owned by the family of former Punjab minister Rana Gurjit in Sector 8, Chandigarh. 

The raid was conducted by five officials from the Ludhiana office of the Income Tax Department.

Rana Gurjit Singh had last month resigned as Power and Irrigation Minister following a series of investigative reports by The Tribune on sand mine auctions.

The Tribune had recently also reported that the Enforcement Directorate had issued summons to his son in connection with raising of funds abroad.

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In an investigative report on May 25, 2017, The Tribune had highlighted how four employees of Irrigation Minister Rana Gurjit Singh had bagged mines. His cook Amit Bahadur got a mining site at Saidpur Khurd village in Shaheed Bhagat Singh Nagar (Nawanshahr) for Rs 26.51 crore; Kulwinder Pal Singh, a deputy general manager, got Mehadipur quarry for Rs 9.21 crore; Gurinder Singh bagged a quarry in Rampur Kalan village in Mohali district for Rs, 4.11 crore; and Balraj Singh bagged a contract at Bairsal village in Nawanshahr for Rs 10.58 crore.

However, the minister had claimed that they were his former employees and left him just before the sand mine auctions.

Taking cognisance of the reports, Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh constituted a one-member judicial commission under Justice JS Narang to investigate the matter. However, the commission overlooked all the crucial evidence--like money trail, auction beneficiaries linked to the minister’s other companies and minister’s financial transactions with beneficiaries-- brought out by The Tribune in subsequent reports and gave a clean chit to the minister.

However, The Tribune brought fresh evidence on January 4 as to how one of his employees, Balraj Singh, who got mine at Bairsal village in Nawashahr for Rs 11 crore had given address of Rana’s Sugar Mill at Butter Sivia in Amritsar while participating in mining auctions.

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