Chahal sent in police remand for three days

Patiala, July 13 (UNI) A local court today sent Bharat Inder Singh Chahal, former media adviser to the former chief minister Amarinder Singh, in police remand for three days in a case registered by Vigilance Bureau (VB) here for allegedly amassing immovable assets disproportionate to his known sources of income.

After hearing the arguments of the public prosecutor and defence, Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate KK Karir sent Chahal to police custody for three days.

The public prosecutor had sought his remand for ten days to grill him to divulge his sources of income.

Chahal was arrested on June 10 by Ludhiana police in a land grabbing case and spent four days in police custody and on June 14 Patiala police had arrested him in the Mercedes Benz fraud case.

Chahal, who was in Judicial custody since June 16 however, got bail in the car case and his bail petition was pending in Punjab and Haryana High Court in a land grabbing and attempt to murder case registered at Ludhiana.

The Patiala Vigilance Bureau Police yesterday had assessed some of his known properties for Rs 15.5 crore leaving a large number of properties, both in India and abroad, unassessed. Besides, immovable property, the fresh FIR also mentions hawala transactions of rupees 30 crore, Chahal had allegedly made during the past five years.

Sources in VB have revealed that among properties under scanner are those located in Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, flat and showroom in Delhi, two flats in Amritsar, showroom in Chandigarh, kothi in Model Town (Patiala), kothi in Kumarhatti, shares in builders company, besides some flats in Glassgow.

Vigilance Bureau is also investigating unknown bank accounts of Chahal, both in India and overseas.

The six-page detailed FIR reportedly states that in the year 2001-2002, BIS Chahal and his wife had filed Income Tax Returns claiming a combined family income of Rs 10.5 lakh.

With such an income, the report says, it was impossible for anyone to amass huge immovable assets including a couple of petrol pumps, major shares in a multinational builder company, besides starting a private bus service.

The FIR also named a Glassgow-based non-resident Indian Ranjit Singh Dhillon who reportedly owned 150-odd flats or apartments in the Great Britain.

Chahal, according to the FIR, has a substantial share in the properties held by Ranjit Singh Dhillon. Detailed investigations were being conducted to assess the exact value of overseas properties owned by Chahal and his family overseas.

UNI