BJP leaders meet Governor, seeks probe against Rana Gurjit Singh

Chandigarh, May 30

A delegation of Punjab Bharatiya Janata Party leaders today met Punjab Governor VP Singh Badnore and demanded a probe into the sand mining scam involving state Cabinet Minister Rana Gurjit Singh along with Amit Bahadur, Kulvinder Paul and Balraj Singh. The BJP leaders sought independent registration of cases by the CBI, Enforcement Directorate, Income Tax Dept and National Investigating Agency (NIA).

The delegation, comprising of former state president and ex-cabinet minister Madan Mohan Mittal; state vice-presidents Harjit Singh Grewal and Iqbal Singh Lalpura; state general secretary Manjit Singh Rai; and, state secretaries Vineet Joshi and Vijay Puri out-rightly rejected the purported Judicial Commission ordered by Punjab Chief Minister Capt. Amarinder Singh. BJP leaders feared that owing to his position in the state government and his political status in the Congress, Irrigation and Power minister Rana Gurjit Singh, can certainly influence the probe.

Addressing the media after meeting the Governor, state party secretary Vineet Joshi said “At the very outset it is a proved case of shadow/proxy biding by Punjab Cabinet Minister Rana Gurjit Singh to capture mining business through his men by taking undue advantage/ misusing/abusing his government position and further it is a case of corruption, breach of trust and clash of interest. Moreover, it is a violation of the oath taken in the name of Constitution of India by Rana Gurjit Singh while assuming office of the Cabinet Minister”.

Second, it is a case of benami transactions where persons with insignificant incomes are depositing crores of rupees into government exchequer, added Joshi.

Joshi said that the source of benami transactions will lead to money laundering and Hawala transactions. He said that the huge unaccounted money exchanged into many hands is a potential threat to national security.

“Any Commission which is not headed by a sitting high court judge cannot be called as Judicial Commission. So, it is a simple Commission constituted under the Commission of Inquiry Act and by naming it as a Judicial Commission, the Chief Minister is trying to mislead the people of Punjab”, he said.

The state party secretary further said that the announcement of an inquiry commission by Punjab CM is akin to establishing the validity of the allegations/news published in the various news dailies.

“As it is a proved case of corruption, benami deals and Hawala transactions, the agencies which are competent to investigate are CBI, Enforcement Directorate and Income Tax Department. His Excellency is hereby requested to order the CBI, Enforcement Directorate, Income Tax Dept and the National Investigating Agency (NIA) to register independent cases and bring guilty to book’, said Joshi.