CHANDIGARH: Punjab Vigilance Bureau arrested Majithia's close aide Harpreet Singh Gulati in a money transfer case through liquor company Akash Spriti, UV Enterprises, AD Enterprises, thereby former minister Bikram Singh Majithia built properties in Shimla and Delhi through Gulati. Accused Harpreet Singh Gulati has been arrested from Mohali in connection with the Majithia case and a Mohali court has sent him six days police remand.
Disclosing this an official spokesperson of Vigilance Bureau said that Shiromani Akali Dal leader Bikram Singh Majithia faces serious allegations of quid-pro-quo liquor licences and suspicious fund flows from favoured liquor businessmen into his companies and family.
He said that since the Akali government’s 2007 takeover in Punjab, liquor sector, etc allegedly faced capture by political interests.
A nexus is alleged between Majithia and car dealer-turned-liquor businessman Harpreet Singh Gulati, who benefited from this influence.
He revealed that Gulati’s firms allegedly secured liquor licences at Majithia’s instance from 2008, gaining a foothold in the regulated trade and raising abuse of office concerns. Gulati’s firms allegedly paid Rs.4.25 crore (2008-09) and Rs. 1.40 crore (2009-10) to Majithia’s companies and family, funding a Sainik Farms, a farmhouse in Delhi and family benefits.
In 2014-15, another Rs. 5.49 crore flowed in the same way, repaying loans for Majithia-linked group entities.
‘Till now, transactions of approximately Rs.10, 00, 00, 000/- being pumped into the companies linked to the accused Bikram Singh Majithia have surfaced, and further investigation is indicating more such fund infusions running into crores. The probe has further revealed that these transactions were non-commercial in nature, unrelated to any legitimate business dealings, and routed in the form of unsecured fund transfers/layered advances, without any business rationale, justification’, he added.