Mining contract row: IT dept initiates inquiry

The Income Tax Department has started a probe into the mining contracts allegedly bagged by four former employees of Punjab minister Rana Gurjit Singh.
The department has also written to the Punjab government, seeking details of the mining contract bagged by four ex- employees of the minister.
"An inquiry into the mining contract awarded to four persons whose names have appeared in newspaper reports, has been initiated but it is at preliminary stage now," an income tax official said today.
Opposition parties, the AAP, the SAD and the BJP, have been demanding sacking of Rana, the state power and irrigation minister, for allegedly acquiring sand and gravel mines through "benaami transactions in the name of his former cook and staff".

They had raised questions over the allotment of mining contracts to Amit Bahadur at Saidpur Khurd village in Shaheed Bhagat Singh Nagar for Rs 26.51 crore, Kulvinder Paul Singh at Mehadipur in SBS Nagar for Rs 9.21 crore, Gurinder Singh at Rampur Kalan village in Mohali district for Rs 4.11 crore and Balraj Singh at Bairsal village for Rs 10.58 crore.
A two-day e-auction of sand mines in Punjab had culminated with bids worth Rs 1,026 crore secured for 89 mines.

The department has written to the state government to provide all details about the mining contracts. The IT sleuths have sought details such as at what rate the mining contract was allotted to them, how much upfront money has been deposited and what are their addresses, the official said.

Tthe AAP had said the party leaders would sit on a 'dharna' outside the Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh's house on May 30 if no action was taken against Rana.
"It is the money of Rana Gurjit Singh who pumped it through his four former employees to get the mining contracts in Punjab," AAP MLA Sukhpal Khaira had alleged.
Khaira had also showed the copy of the purported income tax return of Bahadur, one of the minister's former cooks, to the media.
"As per income tax return for the financial year 2014-15 of the former cook, his income was about Rs 95,000. He was getting a salary of just Rs 11,706 per month. With such meagre income, will a cook be able to bag a mining contract of Rs 26 crore," Khaira had asked.

Yesterday, the Congress had said the chief minister was looking into the allegation that Rana had acquired mines through "benaami transactions" and assured that the government was committed to uphold the trust reposed in it by the people.
However, Rana had denied the charges, saying neither he nor his company, Rana Sugars Limited, had any direct or indirect stakes in sand mining business.
"The fact that some of my former employees reportedly bid for the mines does not in any way imply that I have interests or stakes in the business," he had said.
"There are thousands of employees who have worked with me and left from time to time and I cannot be held accountable for what they do after leaving my companies," he had said.

The Congress government had earlier claimed that there would be complete transparency in the e-auction of sand mines.