Vigilance Bureau files DA case against Amarinder

They have been charged with possessing disproportionate assets, abuse of position as public servant, indulging in illegal and corrupt practices in setting up of mega projects in the state by patronizing a few selected Indian and foreign based persons, taking bribe in Punjab Urban Development Authority (PUDA) and “the fraudulent Punjab Intranet Project deal” (of Raninder).

Terming the charges as “baseless and levelled because of political vendetta”, Amarinder told PTI that the case has been registered at the behest of Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal, his son Sukhbir Singh Badal and his adversaries in the opposition Congress to stall his getting some important post which the All India Congress Committee was contemplating to give him.

The PVB in its FIR registered at a police station in Patiala said the declared income of Amarinder and Raninder in 2001-02 was Rs 4.81 lakh and Rs 4.96 lakh respectively and the combined income of the father and son during for five years from 2002, when he became the Chief Minister, was about Rs one crore.

But in the five years that Amarinder was Chief Minister over Rs six crore was deposited in 20 bank accounts held in the name of Amarinder, his Lok Sabha MP wife Preneet Kaur, their son Raninder and his wife Rishma Kaur. The deposits in these banks exceed their combined and total declared income by over Rs 4.50 crore, the Bureau claimed.

The Bureau charged Amarinder with spending money to procure property, including land, at various places in Punjab (including Patiala and Kharar), at Greater Noida, Goa, Faridabad and Gurgaon besides abroad, including London, the USA, Canada, Sweden and Dubai.

The former Chief Minister has also been charged with securing shares in projects started at Gurgaon (a mall), Bahadurgarh (vehicle agency) and Baddi (a factory) and sending money abroad allegedly through illegal means and procuring vehicles.

Amarinder denied the allegations levelled against him by the Vigilance in its FIR and said officers in the Bureau were acting at the behest of the Chief Minister and his son.

He said some of his party colleagues also had joined hands with the Badals in the “vilification” campaign against him and his family. “They have all got together now as I was expecting an important post from the Congress High Command,” he said.

Amarinder said that since the investigation in the Ludhiana City Centre case have reached a “dead end” and the Vigilance has not found any evidence against him, they have come out with the new case just to “harass” him, his family and associates.

The former Chief Minister denied the allegation that he had amassed Rs six crore during his tenure as Chief Minister against his income of Rs 1.60 crore. “It is a baseless allegation,” he said.

He also rejected the charge that he had bought property, including land, at various places in the country and abroad.

“I have recently bought a flat in Dubai and own no other property abroad,” he said.

Regarding the Punjab Intranet case, Amarinder said his son Raninder, who had floated the project, had been given a clean chit by the Nehra Commission which probed the so-called scandal.

The Akalis, then in the opposition, went to the High Court against the Commission’s clean chit to his son but the petition was set aside and they did not approach the Supreme Court, Amarinder said.

He said the Nehra Commission had concluded that it did not find any truth in the allegations of the hawala transaction against Raninder Singh.