Punjab MLA, seven others booked in Rs 60-cr scam

Punjab MLA, seven others booked in Rs 60-cr scamKanchan Vasdev/TNS

Chandigarh, September 17
The Chandigarh Police today booked Congress MLA from Talwandi Sabo Jeet Mohinder Singh and seven others, including Sukhbir Singh Shergill, trustee of the Adesh Foundation which runs a number of education institutes in the state, and Gurdeep Singh, managing director of Fastway Transmissions and a partner in Jujhar Travels, in a multi-crore fraud case.

The fraud diaries  The Chandigarh Police had registered a case of forgery amounting to over Rs 130 crore against 13 accused, including Jatinder Singh Dua and Sukhbir Singh Shergill  The complainant, Raman Uppal, alleged that Shergill cheated him of crores of rupees during the opening of a company --- International Customer Related Management Services --- in Sector 9, Chandigarh  The FIR stated that Raman Uppal wanted to expand his business. He met Shergill, who along with Jatinder Singh Dua, purchased a plot in Phase VII of Mohali  The complainant wanted to purchase another building situated in Phase VIII of the Industrial Area. He decided to jointly fund and promote a private limited company to be incorporated under ICRMS  Ramesh handed over the paper work to Shergill and the company was eventually floated for purchasing the said plot. It was alleged that Shergill, in connivance with his family, made his brother-in-law as director of the company  It was alleged that the funds were misused blatantly and properties were purchased by all accused. A number of properties were bought by Dua in his name and those of his family members and nominees. The market value of these properties is over Rs 300 crore

In the dock  The FIR states the accused, including Congress MLA from Talwandi Sabo Jeet Mohinder Singh (pic), were booked for forgery of valuable security, creating false/fraudulent documents, money-laundering, harbouring absconders and cheating the complainant, Raman Uppal  The prime accused — the Shergill couple —who were on the run since February, were arrested from Bathinda in July. They were being allegedly sheltered by MLA Jeet Mohinder, who was travelling with the accused when the cops swooped on them  The FIR said the conspiracy in the case was hatched at the Chandigarh residence of the MLA

Cop took bribe to 'settle' case A sub-inspector in the Economic Offence Wing, Naveen Sharma, was caught red-handed by the CBI taking a bribe of Rs 5 lakh in September 2012. He had allegedly demanded Rs 10 lakh from Sukhbir Shergill for "settling" the case

The FIR, registered on the directions of Illaqa Magistrate Chandigarh, states the accused were booked for forgery of valuable security, creating false/fraudulent documents, money laundering, harbouring absconders in a scam of Rs 60 crore and cheating the complainant Raman Uppal of the company, International Customer Related Management Services Private Limited (ICRMS).

The Congress MLA expressed surprise over a case being slapped on him. "It has come as a shock for me. I have not seen the FIR. Nobody came to me for enquiry. All I can say is that the case is politically motivated," said Jeet Mohinder Singh.

Uppal has been fighting the case through ex-IAS officer Gurnihal Singh Pirzada. The Chandigarh Police, in its investigation report, said the scam would turn out to be more than Rs 60 crore.

Pirzada said the company had acquired land in Mullanpur village for a private developer and earned huge profits (over Rs 100 crore). He alleged the complainant was duped of crores of rupees while opening another company.

The case also hogged the headlines in July this year when the Chandigarh Police arrested Sukhbir Singh Shergill and his wife Gurbir Kaur Shergill from Bathinda. The FIR said the accused changed the directorship and shareholding of the company to hoodwink authorities and indulged in fraudulent transactions. They have been accused of putting up frontmen who had no means to run such a large company.

The nine-page FIR, which does not include details of previous cases lodged in the scam, lists the accused as Sukhbir Singh Shergill, resident of SAS Nagar, his wife Gurbir Kaur Shergill, MLA Jeet Mohinder Singh and Gurdeep Singh.

The remaining accused in the case are Ludhiana residents Narinder Singh, Rajdeep Singh and Brij Kishore Tiwari besides chartered accountant Kamal Kishore Gupta, a Delhi resident.

The FIR states the prime accused, the Shergill couple, who were on the run since February, were arrested from Bathinda in July. They were being allegedly sheltered by MLA Jeet Mohinder Singh Sidhu, who was travelling with the accused when the cops swooped on them.

The FIR said the conspiracy in the case was hatched at the Chandigarh residence of the MLA. The police in its investigations said it was shocking that the accused removed the existing directors - Jatinder Dua, Sagar Dua, Madan Singfh and Harshvinderpal Singh on June 25 -- and appointed two new directors Narinder Singh and Rajdeep Singh on July 15, just two days before the Shergills were arrested.