12 Feb :The Punjab Vigilance Bureau registered a 4th case against former CM Capt Amarinder Singh for alleged cheating, criminal breach of trust, criminal conspiracy and conversion of his "bribe money" into white by faking sale of shares of his company Teg’s Masrado Private Ltd.
This is the fourth case registered by the bureau against Singh after Amritsar Improvement Trust scandal, Ludhiana City Centre scam and a disproportionate assets case.
Besides Amarinder, his son Raninder Singh was also booked under similar charges by the bureau at Mohali on Wednesday, sources said. According to the FIR, Singh allegedly used illegal means to put his unaccounted money into the accounts of Teg’s Masrado Private Limited, registered in 1975 with his private residence at Patiala as address.The company was an export-oriented unit and used to grow and can mushrooms for export, which it stopped after it became defunct in 1992.
While Singh was Managing Director of the company, his son was joint managing director.The accumulated losses of the company till April 2002 were about Rs 5.24 crore and the balance sheet showed nil turnover.
The company also had a dispute with Bank of Baroda on about Rs 6.94 crore taken through various credit facilities with accrued interest of about Rs 14 crore.
During his tenure as chief minister between 2002 to 2007, Singh allegedly used the company to fraudulently evade income tax and for personal gains.
During the years 2004-05, the company received Rs 1.35 crore from four Kolkata-based companies. In the same year, land worth Rs 1.72 crore was purchased by the company in Main village near Patiala for setting up of a shooting range, which did not fall within the objectives of the company.
In the next financial year, the company received another Rs 1.96 crore as share application money from three Kolkatabased companies.After investigation the bureau found that these companies in Kolkata were operating from small and dingy rooms with only a telephone.