Main suspect in irrigation probe goes missing, with Rs 100-cr cash

Sanjeev Singh Bariana

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, August 30

Construction contractor Gurinder Singh, main suspect in the ongoing Vigilance Bureau investigation into the suspected favours and illegal tendering in projects of the Punjab Irrigation Department, has absconded, but not before withdrawing more than Rs 100 crore from his bank accounts.

According to sources, he was seen a day before registration of a case against him and three former chief engineers on August 18. “He has not offered to cooperate. His phone is switched off, and his whereabouts are not known,” an official said. Some people among his personal staff, including drivers and accountants, also seem to have gone off the radar.

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In what may add a new dimension to the case, Vigilance officials say they have discovered unaccounted for heavy cash withdrawals amounting to more than Rs 100 crore from Gurinder Singh’s personal bank accounts (HDFC and Punjab and Sind Bank), made after the investigation became public in May.

VB, an anti-corruption investigation wing of the state, has booked eight persons — including Gurinder Singh, three retired chief engineers, two serving executive engineers and a sub-divisional officer of the Irrigation Department. They have been charged with causing loss worth crores. Wrongful awarding of public works is suspected to have taken place under the previous SAD-BJP regime.

The bureau has prepared a list of Gurinder Singh’s properties with an estimated worth of more than Rs 100 crore, and acquired during the past 10 years. Documents show purchases of residential property in Sectors 18 and 19 of Chandigarh, as well as a micro-brewery. Gurinder Singh has also been found to have at least eight properties in Mohali, besides those in Patiala, Ludhiana and Noida, all purchased during the period under question.

Several documents supposed to have been only in the custody of the Irrigation Department were also seized from his possession.

Meanwhile, the Joint Action Committee (JAC) of irrigation engineers has called an emergency meeting on Thursday to chalk out a “plan of action” to demand a fresh inquiry into the case by a “team of professionals”.

JAC head BPS Brar said: “We are only demanding an inquiry by  technical experts, an assurance given by Secretary VK Singh on August 8, following which we called off our stir.” But if the current course of action continued, “we will be forced to resort to an indefinite agitation”.