In a major development, the Income Tax (I-T) Department on Thursday took a major action against Congress MLA Rana Gurjeet Singh in Kapurthala, Punjab. As per the information received, on Thursday, the I-T teams from Ludhiana are learned to be raiding the house and mill of the Ranas in Kapurthala and his houses in Sectors 4 and 9 and Flat No 53 in the MLA’s hostel in Chandigarh.
The team came in four to five vehicles and Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) personnel were also present with them. During the raid, all the gates of the residence were closed from the inside. The local police were also not informed about this action in advance. During the investigation, the mobile phones of all the employees of the MLA office were found switched off.
As per the information received, simultaneous raids also took place at the MLA Hostel official residence of Rana Gurjeet Singh in Chandigarh, as well as his establishments in Jalandhar and Kapurthala. Rana has distilleries and sugar mills in Uttarakhand, UP, and Punjab. It is said that he is one of the richest MLAs of Punjab. His son, Rana Inder Partap Singh, is also an Independent MLA from Sultanpur Lodhi. The family owns two ethanol plants in Punjab, including the one at Buttar village in Amritsar.
In the 2022 Punjab Assembly elections, Rana Gurjeet Singh won his seat in Kapurthala, defeating his nearest Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) rival. He has also been a Minister in the past. However, in 2018, Rana Gurjeet Singh faced allegations of impropriety related to sand mining contracts in Punjab, leading to his resignation from the Cabinet.