Former Punjab minister Ashu arrested for corruption
Darpan News Desk IANS, 22 Aug, 2022 12:36 PM
Chandigarh, Aug 22 (IANS) Congress leader and former Punjab Food and Supply Minister Bharat Bhushan Ashu on Monday was arrested by a team of the Vigilance Bureau from Ludhiana city in the alleged tender allotment scam.
He is the second minister from the previous government who has been arrested by the AAP government on charges of corruption.
In June, the bureau arrested former minister and Congress leader Sadhu Singh Dharamsot on corruption charges.
Ashu has been named as an accused in the preferential allotment of tenders for labour, cartage, and transportation of foodgrains.
Contractor Telu Ram had, during interrogation, blamed the former minister of involvement in the scam.
The area around the Intelligence Bureau office has been sealed and investigation is in progress. A bomb disposal and forensic squads have been positioned at the spot. Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann spoke to Director General of Police V.K. Bhawra and sought details about the incident.
Notably, the police detained several people, including party workers, who were not allowing the SDMC to carry out the demolition drive at Shaheen Bagh. After the agitation was quelled, the bulldozer moved forward to demolish the illegal encroachment, an iron structure in front of a building. It is at this juncture that Khan reached the spot and was seen speaking to the officials.
Punjab shares a 553-km barbed-wire fenced international border with Pakistan which is under the vigil of nearly 135 BSF battalions. The drug network operates along the Afghanistan-Pakistan-India route.
Police are looking at this angle. The incident took place near Kengeri at 1 a.m. and the injured were shifted to nearby hospitals. According to the police, the bus had first hit the 4-feet tall road divider and then rammed into the Namma Metro Pillar number 545.
Chairing a meeting of the Special Task Force (STF) team led by its chief Harpreet Sidhu here, Mann said neither political persons nor officers would be spared if found conniving with the drug mafia. He told the police officers to work freely without any political pressure with a sharpened focus to make Punjab a drug-free state.
According to the SHO of Cantonment police station, Rajeev Singh, Ram Lakhan's wife informed the police that her husband had confessed to killing their son following a fight with her. A police team went looking for the 'body' but could not find the child.
