Chandigarh, June 7 (IANS) Just ahead of the visit of Congress leader Rahul Gandhi to Punjab, the Vigilance Bureau on Tuesday arrested former minister Sadhu Singh Dharamsot under the Prevention of Corruption Act.
Dharamsot, who was the Forest Minister in the previous Congress government led by Capt Amarinder Singh, is accused of being involved in illegal felling of over 25,000 trees.
Acting on the interrogation of earlier arrested Divisional Forest Officer (DFO) Guramanpreet Singh and contractor Hummy, the police took Dharamsot into custody for the wrongdoings in the Forest Department.
The former minister had links with the arrested forest officials, said officials.
Along with him, a local journalist Kamaljit Singh, who was allegedly working as an aide, was also arrested.
The meeting lasted over half an hour and it is understood that Mishra might have made his position clear in the Lakhimpur Kheri violence case. Earlier, he went to his office in the North Block and stayed there for a while.
NCP national spokesperson and Maharashtra Minorities Affairs Minister Nawab Malik slammed the "fraud" NCB operations,in which BJP leader Manish Bhanushali and "private detective" Kiran P. Gosavi were seen dragging out the accused. including superstar Shah Rukh Khan's son Aryan Khan and Arbaaz Merchant.
In a statement here, he said the worst has started coming true as the Taliban have started showing their true colours by way of complete intolerance towards the minorities leading to their intimidation and destruction of their religious places.
Rahul Gandhi, Priyanka Gandhi and other leaders met the family of deceased farmer Lovepreet at the Chaukhada farm in Palia at around 9 p.m. on Wednesday. They later met the family of journalist Raman Kashyap, who was also killed in violence.
9 persons, including four farmers, were killed in the violence that had erupted during a farmers' protest in Lakhimpur Kheri. A bench headed by Chief Justice N.V. Ramana and comprising justices Surya Kant and Hima Kohli will hear the matter on Thursday. The matter has been listed as 'violence in Lakhimpur Kheri (UP) leading to loss of life'.
Canadian MP Tim S. Uppal said he was shocked to learn about the brazen attack on protesting farmers. Another Canadian MP Ruby Sahota said she was heartbroken to learn about the violence directed at protesting farmers.
