I-T Department busts Noida engineer with 25 properties, two families
What's the story
On Thursday, the Income Tax Department busted a Noida Authority engineer who was found to be in possession of five cars (including a Jaguar), Rs. 8 lakh in cash, and at least 25 properties in Noida and Faridabad.
The man, Chaudhury Brijpal Singh, also happened to have two wives, and had two boys and a girl with each of them.
Here's more.
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Singh's properties will be sold off after the investigation
"We will start seizing his properties once our investigation is over. Apart from these 25 properties, we have found documents of properties which have already been purchased and sold. He hasn't declared any of those properties," said, Amrinder Kumar, director of the I-T Department's investigation wing.
Details
I-T Department had its eyes on Singh for six months
The I-T Department had been gathering information about Chaudhary Brijpal Singh for the past six months.
The 59-year-old Singh was working in the Noida Authority's work circle 1 as an assistant project engineer and is slated to retire in 2019.
The department started search operations after it received several complaints alleging that Singh amassed assets by helping private contractors get government projects in Noida.
Two families
Singh had children with same names for easy transactions
Now it gets interesting.
During the investigation, the department found that Singh owned 25 properties registered under the names of family members.
Subsequently, sleuths found out that both sets of children in Singh's two families - one in Faridabad, the other in Noida - had identical names to make property transactions less suspicious.
The children are adults now, but couldn't be reached for comments.
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Singh was "shocked" when his dual life was uncovered
"He was shocked when we found out about his two wives and children. He kept the same names for his children from both the wives to make the property buying and selling procedure suspicion free," said Kumar.
Family dynamic?
How did Singh manage two families at the same time?
Singh lives with his legally wedded wife, their two sons and daughter, in a house in Noida's Sector 27.
His second family lived in Faridabad, and he reportedly visited them regularly.
It's not clear whether the two sets of families knew each other and were okay with it.
However, owing to Singh's regular visits to Faridabad, his legal wife might have harbored suspicions.