A cook in Punjab just won sand mines auction worth crores. This is why it looks mysterious

Punjab’s state government has started auctioning sand mines since May 19. However the person who won the bid of Rs 26 crore recently happens to be a former cook employed at Punjab power and irrigation minister Rana Gurjit's company. What’s more alarming is the cook Amit Bahadur had a balance of Rs 4,840 in his State Bank of India account. While employed with the minister’s company, he was earning Rs 11,706 till March 8.

The Times of India accessed his IT returns for last three years and found Bahadur never had more than Rs 18,000 t0 Rs 22,000 at any stage in last two years. Bahadur has deposited Rs 13.34 crore of the annual Rs 26.51 crore fee he is supposed to pay to mine at the Saidpur Khurd site in Nawanshahr, Punjab. A resident of Bilari in Moradabad, the bidder wasn’t reachable on his phone by TOI reporter.

The power minister under whom Amit was employed owns a sugar mill in Tarn Taran and also happens to be the richest MLA in the assembly with declared wealth of Rs 169 crore.

The government has till now auctioned 102 mines and earned Rs 1,026 crore. Gurjit has informed that he doesn’t know any whereabouts of the cook because when the auction took place, Bahadur was no longer his employee.