Punjab ex minister arrested in corruption case over a month after Mann’s warning
In a major crackdown by Punjab chief minister Bhagwant Mann-led government, the state’s Vigilance Bureau (VB) has arrested senior Congress leader and former minister, Sadhu Singh Dharamsot, in a corruption case.
Dharamsot’s arrest was made in the early hours on Tuesday. He had served as minister for forest and social welfare department in the cabinet of former chief minister Captain Amarinder Singh. Along with him, a local journalist, Kamaljit Singh, who was allegedly working as an aide, was also arrested.
The development comes more than a month after Mann had warned action against the Congress leader.
Confirming the details, a Vigilance Bureau official said that both the people were held under charges of corruption. The bureau had collected many proofs against the ex minister when they last week arrested a divisional forest officer, Gurnampreet Singh, and another individual, Harminder Singh Hummi, who is said to have paid huge bribes to Dharamsot.
Hummi was paying bribe to Dharamsot via Kamaljeet. Pertinently, Sadhu was indicted in a scholarship scam by an IAS officer, Kirpa Shankar Saroj, during Captain Amarinder’s tenure, but was given a “clean chit”.
However, there was ample evidence of his involvement in corruption in the forest and social welfare departments, sources said.
The action also comes a week after the chief minister removed IPS officer Ishwar Singh from the Vigilance Bureau and posted another officer – ADGP Verinder Kumar- as the chief director.
Known for his performance, Verinder had served as the state intelligence head during Amarinder Singh’s tenure and had made a dossier of corruption of MLAs and ministers, but the Congress government didn’t act, it has been claimed.
Now, Mann is acting on basis of that specific information, sources added.
The political go-ahead for the arrest of Dharamsot, sources underlined, was given last night by the chief minister who stressed that when he can “ensure arrest of his own cabinet minister (Vijay Singla), no one should be spared for corruption”.
About a month ago the chief minister had given a warning in this regard.