Transport tender scam The Punjab Vigilance Bureau on Monday evening arrested Congress leader and former minister Bharat Bhushan Ashu in the alleged food grain transport tender scam. Officials said he was arrested from Ludhiana.
Ashu’s arrest came hours after she along with other senior Punjab Congress leaders presented herself at the Vigilance Bureau office in Mohali, saying she could take any of them into custody as they were being held against them by the AAP government in Punjab. Tired of being accused of corruption.
Ashu, who is the working president of the state unit of Congress, is the second minister of the previous government in the state to be arrested. In June, the Punjab Vigilance Bureau arrested former minister and Congress leader Sadhu Singh Dharamsot on charges of corruption.
Congress MP from Ludhiana Ravneet Singh Bittu said that the Vigilance Bureau had picked Ashu from Ludhiana when he was in the saloon. Earlier, according to an official statement, “A case was registered against former Food, Civil Supplies and Consumer Affairs Minister Bharat Bhushan Ashu on Friday for allotting transport tenders on fake registration numbers of vehicles.”
An investigation is underway and more officers of the Food and Civil Supplies Department are under the scanner, it had said. The Punjab Vigilance Bureau last week said it had registered a case against three persons of a firm and some officials of the state’s Food and Civil Supplies Department for alleged irregularities in the allotment of tenders for labour, cartage and transportation for lifting of food grains in Ludhiana. has done.
One of the accused, Telu Ram, a resident of village Udhanwal of SBS Nagar, was later arrested. During investigation, it was found that the registration numbers of scooters, motorcycles and cars were in the list of vehicles submitted by some contractors while submitting the tenders for the year 2020-21 for labour, cartage and transportation works in Ludhiana, which were not there. Verified by the authorities on account of alleged criminal collusion with each other, the bureau has alleged.
According to an official statement on Monday, after verification of Gurpreet Singh’s complaint, a case was registered at Vigilance Bureau Police Station Ludhiana under various provisions of IPC and Prevention of Corruption Act against contractors including Telu Ram . ,
“During the enquiry, Telu Ram submitted that he met Bharat Bhushan Ashu through his personal assistant Meenu Malhotra to receive the tender for 2020-21, who directed him to Rakesh Kumar Singla, Deputy Director Food and Asked to meet Civil Supplies.
“Singla was in charge of Punjab and was the chairman of the departmental chief vigilance committee for tenders and was acting on the instructions of the former minister. Ram claimed that when he met Singla, he paid Rs 30 lakh on behalf of the former minister. After Ashu’s arrest on separate, the Vigilance Bureau said in a statement that he paid a bribe of Rs 20 lakh to Singla and Rs 6 lakh to Meenu Malhotra. He also bribed other officials.
A Vigilance Bureau spokesperson said Bharat Bhushan Ashu was made an accused in the case on the basis of disclosures and material evidence. “During investigation it has come on record that Telu Ram has bought around 20 acres of land and Meenu Malhotra, who is at large, has also bought several properties. Records are also being collected on the posting of Rakesh Kumar Singla while The properties acquired by them are being collected. Investigation will be done,” said the spokesperson.
On Monday, Congress leaders, including Punjab Congress chief Amarinder Singh Raja Warring, protested outside the Vigilance Bureau office in Mohali, accusing the AAP government of indulging in “vengeance and witch-hunt in Punjab” to divert attention from the party’s heat. Put it. investigative agencies in delhi
Besides Ashu and Waring, former ministers Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa, Tript Rajinder Singh Bajwa and Rana Gurjit Singh were present at the protest. In Ludhiana, Congress leaders and workers also staged a sit-in outside the Ludhiana office of the Bureau and raised slogans against the AAP government.
Before Ashu’s arrest, Ravneet Singh Bittu argued with the vigilance officers and asked them to show valid documents to take the former minister with him. Bittu told reporters that “jungle raj” is going on in Punjab and the AAP government has taken political vendetta against its opponents.
“We all had presented ourselves before the Vigilance Bureau office in Mohali. Why didn’t they take Ashu into custody there?” He asked.