Vijay Singla, the man who hit the headlines for taking a bribe of Rs 90 lakh in Chandigarh on Friday, allegedly in lieu of a plum posting of a senior railway officer, is known in the city’s business circle as the kin of Chandigarh Member Parliament and Union Railway Minister Pawan Kumar Bansal, and as someone who can crack big business deals.
Bansal’s gradual rise in politics was concomitant with the changing fortunes of his sister’s sons, Mohinder and Vijay Singla, according to sources. Bansal, in a statement issued today, denied any business link with this sister's family.
While Mohinder, the younger one, got into road contracts in Chandigarh, a 40 something Vijay has his hands in many pies. His business interests vary from manufacturing, retail, real estate and education. The Singla family owns manufacturing unit, Jagan Tubes, near Chandigarh. Most of the business ventures have stakeholders from the family.
A person close to Singla told Business Standard he purchased an industrial plot in Chandigarh industrial area and, according to media reports, around Rs 100 crore was paid as conversion charges.
A shopping mall Acropolis is coming up on that plot the estimated cost of which, according to market sources, is Rs 1,000 crore. Singla also purchased a 100-acre plot in Dera Bassi (20 km from Chandigarh) for a residential project and another 30 acres in Zirakpur (on Chandigarh’s periphery) for a school, according to sources close to him.
Besides, Singla has also acquired commercial property in Chandigarh, claims Sat Pal Jain, former MP and a BJP leader.
Singla counts Sameer Gupta, a chartered accountant, and Sandeep Goyal, a relative, as his close aides, according to sources. He recently joined the Aggarwal Sabha of Panchkula but is not very active there, according to one of the Sabha members.
The Sabha member said Singla and his brother purchased two houses of four kanal (one kanal is equal to 506 sq m) each about five years back. Vijay's mother, Bansal's younger sister passed away some time back.
