President of Capt Amarinder’s new party has cases of fraud against him by CBI

Sukhinder Singh, a resident of Sector 5 in Chandigarh, was booked by the CBI in 2019 along with his wife and son in connection with a bank fraud of Rs 33 crore. Recently, on October 29, Sukhinder Singh’s house was once again raided by the CBI and he was booked along with several others in a case of Rs 16.80-crore fraud caused to SIDBI and UCO banks.

As per the documents submitted to the Election Commission of India by the Punjab Lok Congress Party regarding its office bearers, the president of the party is Sukhinder Singh, resident of house number 3, Sector 5, Chandigarh; the general secretary of the party is Gurmehar Singh Sekhon l, a resident of Siswan near New Chandigarh; and the treasurer is one Sukhsimran Singh of Mohali.

Gurmehar is the son of late Karan Sekhon, who was an OSD to Capt Amarinder when he was the Chief Minister. Gurmehar was appointed to the post following his father’s death.

The office address of the Punjab Lok Congress Party is that of a farmhouse owned by Amarinder in Mohinder Bagh, near New Chandigarh.

These details are mentioned in a public notice issued by the Election Commission of India.

In 2019, Sukhinder Singh was mentioned in the CBI FIR as the chairman of International Mega Food Park Ltd. His wife, Kanwal Sukhinder Singh, and son Simarinder Singh were also booked.

Now in October, CBI has booked a Chandigarh-based firm ‘International Fresh Farm Products (India) Ltd’ along with two other companies in Panipat for causing a loss of Rs 16.80 crore to SIDBI and UCO bank. Multiple raids were conducted at 16 locations, including Chandigarh, Panipat and Gurgaon, on October 29. International Fresh Farm Products (India) Ltd is a registered firm at house number 3 in Chandigarh’s Sector 5. The CBI has booked its management officials, including Sukhinder Singh, wife Kanwal, son Simarinder, Sujjan Singh, Nanki Singh, Punjab Metallic Pvt Firm, Devinder S Jaaj and Company along with other borrowers.

When contacted by The Indian Express, Sukhinder Singh confirmed that he had been named the president of the new party. He also confirmed that a CBI raid had taken place recently and that the CBI cases dating back to 2019 were also still on. The general secretary of the party, Gurmehar Singh Sekhon, said that he did not want to comment on the developments.

When reached for comments, an aide of Capt Amarinder Singh said that he could not offer any comments. However, a person close to Capt Amarinder disclosed that the names of these individuals were only given for the purpose of registration of the party and they were submitted before the October 29 CBI raid took place. “Most likely, the former CM was not aware of the 2019 CBI raids on the same person,” he added.