Punjab: Akali leader Jarnail Wahid, wife, son arrested over alleged irregularities at Phagwara sugar mill

The Punjab Vigilance Bureau said the mill failed to settle its outstanding payments to cane farmers for the past four years, accumulating a debt of around Rs 40 crore.

Akali leader and former chairman of Markfed cooperative federation Jarnail Singh Wahid was arrested by the Punjab Vigilance Bureau on Saturday for alleged irregularities at the Phagwara sugar mill that caused financial loss to the exchequer, officials said.

The bureau also arrested his wife Rupinder Kaur Wahid and son Sandeep Singh Wahid, who were directors in the Wahid Sandhar Sugar Mill Limited, they said, adding that Jarnail Singh was the chairman and managing director of the mill that owes around Rs 40 crore to growers.

A case under relevant sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and the Prevention of Corruption Act has been registered against them, a spokesperson of the bureau said.

The department said the mill failed to settle its outstanding payments to cane farmers for the past four years, accumulating a debt of around Rs 40 crore.

Despite repeated demands by the farmers, the mill, under the management of Wahid Sandhar Sugar Mills, continued to neglect its financial obligations, the spokesperson said.

Members of the Bharti Kisan Union (Doaba) had been holding a 'dharna' against the sugar mill for the last four days. The farmers, who had locked the gates of the mill and demanded the clearance of all dues, ended their protest on Saturday.

On Thursday, Punjab Agriculture Minister Gurmeet Singh Khudian held a meeting with representatives of the BKU (Doaba) and directed the deputy commissioner of Kapurthala to expedite the process of attaching the properties of defaulting owners of the sugar mill.

He also asked the Kapurthala district authorities to ensure that all pending dues of cane farmers be cleared in a time-bound manner.

Maharaja Jagatjit Singh of Kapurthala State decided in 1933 to set up a sugar mill under the name of Jagatjit Sugar Mills Company Limited, according to a statement issued by the Vigilance Bureau.

A plot of around 31 acres was allotted for the mill, but as per the terms and conditions, the land belongs to the state and cannot be sold or mortgaged further. If the sugar mill is closed, the land would revert to the state without any compensation.

Oswal Agro Mills Limited, Phagwara, which was running Jagatjit Singh Sugar Mills Company Limited, had entered into an agreement with Wahid Sandhar Sugars Limited in 2000 and gave it the rights to run it, according to the bureau.

Subsequently, the directors of Wahid Sandhar Sugars Limited acquired the mill and land from Jagatjit Singh Sugar Mills Company on a 99-year lease without obtaining the government's approval.

As per the registered lease deed, Wahid Sandhar Sugars Limited could mortgage the property to any bank and financial institution for taking a loan. This lease deed was not entered in the revenue records so that the bank and the government could be cheated while taking loans, the bureau said.

On the basis of this lease deed document, the land of the mill was pledged as a guarantee for a loan, it added.

Since it was government land, it could not have been pledged to the bank, the bureau added.