Meet Amit Bahadur, the man who cooked up a sandstorm

Bahadur was employed as a cook during Captain Amarinder Singh's cabinet

Amit Bahadur was the man of the moment in his inner circle. He had won the mandate to mine a sand mine in Punjab for a whopping Rs 26.5 crore, outbidding bigwigs of the mining industry. The newly-installed Congress government was gloating at its progressive e-auction that fetched it over Rs 1,000 crore in revenue — 20 times more than what the Akali Dal government had managed in its reign. The party came to an abrupt end when people began to ask: just who is Amit Bahadur?

On inquiry, it came out that Bahadur was employed as a cook by Rana Gurjit Singh, the influential irrigation and power minister in Captain Amarinder Singh’s cabinet. At Rs 169 crore, Singh was the wealthiest contestant in the recent Punjab polls. By the time the minister began dismissing any link with Bahadur, saying that he had quit in February, it was too late. The opposition — the Akali Dal and Aam Aadmi Party — had stepped up the heat with accusations of benami transactions and nepotism. While political parties cried themselves hoarse with calls to fire Singh, a search began to track Bahadur.

The 37-year-old Uttar Pradesh resident switched off his phone and could not be found at any of his official addresses. Bahadur had, however, in the stipulated time, deposited the first installment of Rs 13 crore to get the ball rolling at his sand mine in Nawashahr.

The opposition’s deep dive into Bahadur’s finances made things murkier. According to his financial declaration to the ministry of commerce and irrigation, Bahadur had last drawn a salary of Rs 11,000 in February, and at the time of bidding, had an account balance of Rs 4,840, claimed AAP’s Sukhpal Singh Khaira, flashing supporting documents at a press conference.

Further questions were raised. Why was he allowed to bid? Where did the money come from?

At last, reporters sniffed him out. Doling out unassuming denial, Bahadur identified himself as a former liaison officer at Rana Sugars, owned by Singh. He claimed that he was now a working partner at a mining firm floated by J S Randhawa, the man behind the money, and had a five per cent stake in profits in exchange for his services. He acknowledged his successful bid but refuted allegations that the money came from Singh.

The fact that Randhava had managed Singh’s poll campaign in the Punjab elections does not help the minister’s case, who’s being probed for corruption. Neither does Bahadur’s acknowledgement of a friendship between the two businessmen. Furthermore, three others linked to Singh have been declared successful bidders for sand mines in Punjab.

While his millionaire employers are caught in a whirlwind of accusations and the future of the sand mines lie in jeopardy, Bahadur seems most hurt by his media image. He clarifies that he was never a khansama and does not know how to cook. He charts his career graph from being a mill worker, to becoming a liaison officer and now assuming the role of director at the new mining firm. The matriculate insists that one can achieve anything with hard work.

That may be a noble thought, but for Singh, the controversy is unlikely to die down soon.