CHANDIGARH: The Mohali special court on Saturday ordered summoning of 14 accused, including the kingpin contractor
Gurinder Singh
, in Punjab's multi-crore
irrigation scam
on January 24 after finding that prima facie a case is made out against all 14 accused under section 3 of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (
PMLA
).
The special court judge, Avtar Singh, based on the submissions of special public prosecutor for the Enforcement Directorate (ED) Lokesh Narang and perusal of file, said, "it is clear that there are specific allegations against all the accused."
The court observed that the contractor entered a conspiracy with the irrigation department officials and indulged in the process of acquiring the proceeds of crime to the tune of Rs 41.51 core which caused loss to the government exchequer in five project works of the irrigation department.
"Moreover, additional proceeds of crime of Rs 70.14 crore acquired by Gurinder Singh through the allotment and execution of nine works of the irrigation department also caused loss to the government exchequer," reads the order. Subsequently, the property was attached, and confirmed by the adjudication authority.
Those summoned by the special court are contractor Gurinder Singh, executive engineers Gulshan Nagpal, Bajrang Lal Singla, Rajinder Singh Saini, Irinder Singh Walia and Varinder Kumar Bangar; superintendent engineer Davinder Singh Kohli; retired chief engineer Paramjit Singh Ghuman, Gurdev Singh Sian and Harvinder Singh; private person Sunil Parkash Sahu, and representatives of M/s Gwalior Polypipes Limited, M/s Vishwa Organics Private Limited and M/s Nisha Polymer Industries Limited.
The court observed that Gurinder Singh was involved in the process of placing the proceeds of the crime into his bank account and that of his wife, and used a substantial sum to purchase immovable properties in his name and that of his wife to project it as untainted property.
It has come out during the investigation by the Punjab vigilance bureau and the ED that the contractor was allotted different construction works including the Shahpur Kandi Hydel Channel and Nara Dam in Hoshiarpur, sub-surface drainage system of Fatehpur Mania Wala and Gursar Jodha villages in Malout tehsil of Muktsar district in February 2014, through "tailor made detail notice inviting tender (DNIT)" and ignoring set procedures. In the case of superintendent engineer Kohli, it came out during the investigation, "Only a single tender in relation to said project work was submitted by Gurinder, which was approved."
It has also come to fore that "various conditions were altered" pertaining to tenders by executive engineers Bangar and Walia to help the contractor, causing huge financial loss to the government exchequer.
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