Chandigarh, February 17: The Income Tax Department today conducted raids on the corporate offices of companies owned by the family of former Punjab Cabinet Minister Rana Gurjit Singh.
A team led by Additional Director, Income Tax (Investigations), Manish Sareen and comprising 200 officials, searched at least 10 establishments, including Rana Gurjit’s local residence and the house and office of chartered accountant Triloki Nath Singla. The latter handles the accounts of the Rana Group of Companies.
The raiding team, supervised by Parneet Sachdev, Principal Director, I-T Investigation (Punjab and J&K), came from Ludhiana in 70 taxis this morning and carried out searches till late in the evening. Sources said besides Chandigarh, raids were also conducted on Rana’s business establishments in Amritsar and Kapurthala.
Employees and officials of Rana Sugars, Rana Polycot, Rana Distilleries and Rana Informatics were not allowed to enter the premises.
When contacted, Rana Gurjit refused to comment. His son Rana Inder Pratap Singh, questioned by the Enforcement Directorate recently for raising funds abroad without the requisite permission of the RBI, said he was busy.
Considered close to CM Capt Amarinder Singh, Rana Gurjit had last month resigned as Power and Irrigation Minister following a series of reports by The Tribune on sand mine auctions.
In its report on May 25, 2017, The Tribune had highlighted how four employees of the minister had bagged mines. While his cook Amit Bahadur had 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, had got the Mehadipur quarry for Rs 9.21 crore.
Rana Gurjit had then claimed they were his former employees who had quit prior to the auctioning.
News Source: http://www.tribuneindia.com
