BJP leaders set up company
-Senior BJP leaders from Jammu form HIMGIRI Infrastructure Development Limited in September 2000 with an authorised share capital of Rs 50 lakh and paid-up capital of an equal amount.
-The present J&K deputy Chief Minister Kavinder Gupta and Assembly Speaker Nirmal Singh, his wife Mamta Singh and BJP Lok Sabha member Jugal Kishore, are part of the company.
-RSS pracharak Jyoti Parkash is the Executive Director of Himgiri. Surinder Mohan Gupta, associated with the Dr Hedgewar Smarak Samiti, is the company’s Chairman.
-The company gets a 3 MW hydel power project in Chamba district in 2001 when Prem Kumar Dhumal of the BJP was the Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister.
-The company buys land next to an Army ammunition depot in Nagrota in 2014. Nirmal Singh’s wife and Kavinder Gupta also own land next to the Army depot.
-The land is bought to invest money in property because the power project had been delayed
Within a year of this purchase, when the BJP formed a coalition government with Peoples Democratic Party in J&K, the state government identified land for IIT, IIM and a zoo next door.
BJP leaders Take Loan
-The company draws a term loan of Rs 18.50 crore along with a cash credit facility of Rs 56.83 lakh from J&K Bank in 2012 for part financing of the Himachal power project.
-In 2015, the bank sanctions an additional term loan of Rs 6.60 crore to meet an estimated cost run and another loan of Rs 4 crore in 2016
BJP Leaders Fail To Return Loan
-The Bank lists the company’s account as a non-performing asset (NPA) in December 2017
-A few days later, on January 5 2018, present J&K Deputy Chief Minister Kavinder Gupta and Assembly Speaker Nirmal Singh, his wife Mamta Singh and BJP Lok Sabha member Jugal Kishore, along with nearly 20 shareholders, promoters, directors and guarantors, receive a notice from the bank under Section 13(2) of the Securitisation and Reconstruction of Financial Assets & Enforcement of Security Interest Act (SARFAESI), 2002.
BJP leaders say they have done nothing wrong
Asked about the unpaid loan, Nirmal Singh said, “I have only acted as mortgagor/guarantor for the company in which my wife was a director. She resigned as director in June 2017, but she continues to be a shareholder in the company.”
Kavinder Gupta said he resigned as director of the company in 2014 after winning the Assembly elections from Gandhi Nagar constituency. He said “we are looking for a partner for finances so as to complete the remaining work” on the power project. “It (losses) can happen with anybody… What is so objectionable?… We have not done any fraud with the government.” he said.
Jyoti Parkash andSurinder Mohan Gupta have also got a notice from the bank which calls on them “to clear the entire liability of Rs 29,31,13,578 together with costs, penal interest and other charges within 60 days from the date of notice”.
In case of failure, the banks has warned that it may take possession or management of their secured assets, including the right to transfer them by way of lease, assignment or sale for realising the secured assets.
Army objects but leader says
When Nirmal Singh, whose wife owns a plot of land near the Army ammunition depot, begins constructing a house at the site, the Army objects.
The Corps Commander of the Army’s 16 Corps, Lt General Saranjeet Singh, sends Singh a strong letter, asking him to stop construction on the plot since it was illegal and a security risk to the ammunition depot and to the personnel who lived there.
But, rejecting the allegations, Nirmal Singh says the issue is “politically motivated”. “I am being singled out when there are many houses in the vicinity of the army installation,” Singh tells NDTV.
Former chief minister Omar Abdullah tweets, saying Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharman’s colleagues are “endangering national security”.
Source: Indian Express, NDTV, PTI & other media reports