Top BJP leaders in Jammu and Kashmir, including current Speaker Nirmal Singh and Deputy Chief Minister Kavinder Gupta, purchased, via a company, land right next to the Army’s ammunition depot in Nagrota, as per report published in The Indian Express.
On a 2,000-sq-m plot that is part of an estimated 12 acres bought in 2014, Nirmal Singh has begun constructing a house that has prompted a strong protest letter from the Corps Commander of the Army’s 16 Corps, Lt General Saranjeet Singh.
The Army had raised objections over building citing ‘security concerns’. The firm HIMGIRI Infrastructure Development Limited involved in the construction owes Rs 29.31 crore to Jammu and Kashmir Bank.
The company incorporated in 2000 by senior BJP leaders in Jammu which was used to buy land next to the Army ammunition depot in Nagrota, owes Rs 29.31 crore to Jammu and Kashmir Bank.
“And its account was declared a non-performing asset (NPA) in December last year,” stated the report.
“Singh’s wife and Gupta also owned land next to the Army depot. Singh received a strong letter from the Corps Commander of the Army’s 16 Corps, Lt General Saranjeet Singh, telling him to halt construction on the plot since it was illegal and a security risk to the ammunition depot and to the personnel who lived there,” stated the report.
According to the notice, mentioned in the report a term loan of Rs 18.50 crore along with a cash credit facility of Rs 56.83 lakh was sanctioned to Himgiri by the bank’s Link Road, Jammu, branch in 2012, for part financing of a power project to be set up in Himachal’s Chamba district.
Nirmal Singh was Power Minister and Deputy Chief Minister since 2015 till he was made Speaker in a reshuffle last month.
Records show that in 2015, the bank sanctioned an additional term loan of Rs 6.60 crore to meet an estimated cost run and another loan of Rs 4 crore in 2016, said the report.
