Four months after CBI raid, ED searches AAP MLA’s properties; party cries ‘vendetta’

Though Gajjan Majra or his family members were not available for comments, sources in the central agency that ED action is a follow up to the CBI searches at his premises in May this year. After the CBI raid, Gajjan Majra had said that he will come out clean. He had also accused BJP of misusing central agencies for harassing and targeting its political opponents.

Following the raids in May, the CBI had claimed to have recovered Rs 16.57 lakh in cash, some foreign currency notes, property documents, several bank accounts and other incriminating documents. The CBI had registered an FIR on a complaint from Bank of India, Ludhiana, against Gajjan Majra, Tara Corporation Ltd (renamed as Malaudh Agro Ltd.) based at Gaunspura in Malerkotla and others over an alleged fraud of Rs 40.92 crore.

As per the CBI, Gajjan Majra was a director and guarantor in the company. His brothers Balwant Singh and Kulwant Singh and nephew Tejinder Singh too were directors and guarantors. All were booked by the CBI. The agency had also named another firm — Tara Health Foods Ltd — as an accused.

It was alleged that Tara Corporation Ltd was engaged in trading of DOC Rice Bran, DOC Mustard Cake, Cottonseed Cake, Maize, Bajra and other food grains.

“The firm was sanctioned loans by the bank on four occasion in between 2011 and 2014. It was further alleged that the firm through its directors had concealed hypothecated stock and diverted book debts with malafide and dishonest intention so that the same were not made available to the bank for inspection and for effecting recovery as secured creditor. An alleged loss of Rs.40.92 crore was caused to bank,” a CBI spokesperson had then said.

The bank had declared the account as NPA on March 31, 2014 and later fraud on February 9, 2018 with an outstanding amount of Rs.40.92 crore. “It was also alleged that the loan availed by the accused has not been used for the purpose for which it was availed,” the CBI spokesperson had said.

Gajjan Majra had then said his record vis a vis previous loans was very good. He had said that businessmen sometimes fail to clear loans on time due to financial crunch.

Asked about the ED raid, AAP chief spokesperson Malwinder Singh Kang said, “ED is targeting AAP leaders in panic as BJP is on a weak footing in Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh, where elections are due this year. Even in Haryana, where a bypoll is scheduled, things are not rosy for BJP. The raids are nothing but vendetta politics .”

Punjab Cabinet Minister Aman Arora too said that ED raids were being conducted against AAP leaders as BJP is baffled by the party’s rising graph. “They targeted Gajjan Majra in Punjab. They have targeted Manish Sisodia and Satyendra Jain — leaders who revolutionised education and health sectors — in Delhi. They couldn’t find any anomaly in the past and even this time too they will return empty handed,” said Arora.

A first time MLA, Gajjan Majra won the Assembly election from Amargarh defeating his nearest rival Simranjit Singh Mann, president of SAD (Amritsar), by 6,043 votes. He had joined AAP after severing ties from the Lok Insaaf Party (LIP) of Bains brothers in 2020. He was the LIP general secretary when the party had contested the 2017 Assembly polls in alliance with AAP. He too had contested the polls but came in a distant third after Congress’ Surjit Singh Dhiman and SAD’s Iqbal Singh Jhundan. In 2018, LIP had walked out of the alliance after AAP national convenor Arvind Kejriwal tendered apology to SAD leader Bikramjeet Singh Majithia.

A renowned businessman who runs three schools and a college, Gajjan Majra and his family have interests ranging from eateries to real estate to cattle feed production. During the lockdown, people of Amargarh constituency had protested as Gajjan Majra’s school continued to charge fee from students even though LIP had urged its office bearers, who run educational institutions, not to do that. Following the incident, LIP had sent a notice to Gajjan Majra. However, instead of replying to the notice, he switched to AAP in August 2020.

After the CBI raid, he had become politically active. He actively campaigned for the party during Sangrur bypoll and was recently seen with Chief Minister Nhagwant Mann on September 4 at Ladda toll plaza. The CM had that day announced closure of Ladda toll plaza along with one in Gajjan Majra’s constituency.