EOW books ex-bureaucrat, wife for amassing disproportionate assets

Aman Singh was an influential bureaucrat during Raman Singh government in Chhattisgarh.

Chhattisgarh’s Economic Offenses Wing (EOW) registered a case on Wednesday against former principal secretary to the chief minister, Aman Singh, and his wife Yasmeen Singh for allegedly amassing disproportionate assets.

The release further claimed that Singh has formed shell companies which were engaged in money laundering.

Aman Singh was an influential bureaucrat during Raman Singh government in Chhattisgarh. The Singh couple had resigned from their respective services after the change in government in the state after assembly election in 2018.

As per the release of EOW, the case was registered on Tuesday against Aman Singh and his wife under sections of Prevention of Corruption Act and 120 (B) ( (criminal conspiracy ) of Indian Penal Code ( IPC) on the complaint of one RTI activist Uchit Sharma.

Aman Singh has said that he is aware of the FIR filed by the state. “I have learnt that the state has lodged an FIR against me and my family. But I have applied for a copy but it has not been provided to me. Therefore, I am not aware of its content,” Aman Singh said.

“It was found that Aman Singh and his wife have disproportionate assets in Raipur, Durg, Bhopal, Delhi and foreign countries, which is under investigation,” said a release of EOW.

The release further claimed that Singh has formed shell companies which were engaged in money laundering.

“It was found that shell companies –Vyas Mines and Minerals, Samay Multi Trade, Shrishti Natural Resources, YN Singh Memorial Foundation and Kargil India Limited – was made by them and crores of money laundering was done,” the release said adding that Singh was himself promoter YN Singh memorial foundation even after he was a government employee.

“The FIR has clearly been done at the behest of Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel and only to harass my family and to subvert the judicial process in the midst of the High Court’s hearing on my petition in which I had challenged the malafide and malicious EOW enquiry on a false and frivolous complaint,” he added.

Earlier, in October 2019, Chhattisgarh government ordered a probe on into the appointment of Aman Singh’s wife Yasmeen Singh as Director of the Director of Communication and Capacity Development Unit (CCDU) in November 2005 on a contractual basis even after she was not having experience of government works.

In May 2019, Chhattisgarh police booked former Chief Minister Raman Singh’s son-in-law Dr Puneet Gupta for committing irregularities to the tune of Rs 50 crore when he was superintendent of state-run Dau Kalyan Singh( DKS) postgraduate research centre, in Raipur during BJP rule.

Later, in June 2019, on the direction of special judge of Surguja, Chhattisgarh police registered a case against former Raman Singh’s son Abhishek Singh and other 19 accused in Anmol India chit fund company case under section 420 and Section 10, Protection of Interest of Chhattisgarh Depositors Act 2005. Later in December 2019, Singh got interim relief from Bilaspur High Court and the ordered the state government not to take any action against him.