The Punjab Vigilance Bureau (VB) has made a major breakthrough by arresting Gulshan Jain, a proclaimed offender connected to a multi-crore paddy scam in Amritsar district. Declared a proclaimed offender by the court in 2019, Jain’s arrest marks a significant step in ongoing investigations.
A VB spokesperson revealed that Jain, a resident of Jandiala, was apprehended regarding case FIR No. 44, registered on April 5, 2018. This case involves multiple sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), including 406, 409, 420, 467, 468, 471, and 120-B, alongside Section 13 (1) (D) of the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988, at the Jandiala Guru police station.
The case implicates ten individuals, including the Directors and Owners of Veeru Mal Mulkh Raj Rice Mill, who are family members of Jain. Officials from the Punjab Department of Food, Civil Supplies and Consumer Affairs are also implicated in the misappropriation of approximately Rs 33.6 crores worth of paddy allocated to the mill by state procurement agencies.
The spokesperson confirmed that several accused, including DFSO Raminder Singh Bath, AFSO Vipan Sharma, Inspector Gurjinder Kumar, STA Parminder Singh Bhatia, and DFSC Amritpal Singh, have already been arrested, with a challan submitted in court.
Moreover, the directors of the rice mill have allegedly defrauded the Punjab National Bank in Jandiala Guru of around Rs 200 crores. The investigation was handed to the Punjab Vigilance Bureau on April 24, 2018, and is currently under a Special Investigation Team (SIT) supervised by the Additional Inspector General (AIG) of the Economic Offences Wing (EoW) in Mohali.
Five accused, including Jain, were declared proclaimed offenders by a competent court in 2019. However, on July 3, 2024, the Punjab and Haryana High Court set aside his proclamation and Look Out Circular (LOC), mandating Jain to surrender by September 30, 2024. Following this, the AIG office notified the Director Bureau of Immigration.
Recently, Jain was apprehended by the CBI at Indira Gandhi International Airport in New Delhi, linked to other cases. The Vigilance Bureau subsequently secured a production warrant for Jain and arrested him, with the court granting a five-day police remand for further investigation.
