Two food and civil supplies controllers held in tender scam in Punjab
Darpan News Desk The Canadian Press, 22 Nov, 2022 11:38 AM
Chandigarh, Nov 22 (IANS) The Punjab Vigilance Bureau (VB) on Tuesday arrested two district food and civil supplies controllers (DFSCs) involved in the infamous tender scam in grain markets in Ludhiana district, involving former Congress minister Bharat Bhushan Ashu.
Besides, the VB has also initiated proceedings in the court against three accused -- R.K. Singla, Deputy Director with the food and civil supplies, and Pankaj Kumar and Inderjit Singh, both personal assistants of former food and civil supplies minister Ashu -- to declare them as proclaimed offenders.
A spokesperson for the VB said the bureau had already registered a case under various sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and of the Prevention of Corruption Act against contractors Telu Ram, Jagroop Singh and Sandeep Bhatia and owners and partners of Gurdas Ram and Company, besides officers of the state Food and Civil Supply Department for allocation of labour and transportation tenders in grain markets.
He said Telu Ram, former minister Ashu and Krishan Lal Dhotiwala and Anil Jain, both commission agents, have already been arrested and all are in judicial custody.
The VB has already presented chargesheets against them in a court at Ludhiana.
The VB on Tuesday arrested two more accused -- Sukhwinder Singh Gill, then DFSC Ludhiana West, and Harveen Kaur, then DFSC Ludhiana East. At present Gill is posted as DFSC Faridkot and Harveen Kaur as DFSC Jalandhar.
He said the accused were members and conveners of district tender committee at the time of allotment of tenders. They along with other members of committee were responsible to check the relevant documents attached with the tenders including list of transport vehicles but they had not verified the registration numbers of vehicles intentionally as the number of scooters, motorcycles, among others, were mentioned in the attached list of vehicles.
Despite submission of wrong documents, they have allotted tenders to the favourite persons by accepting bribe money from them, he added.
According to reports, Ankit had gone to meet the girl, late on Tuesday night. The girl's family members came to know and locked up Ankit in a room. "The family called other relatives and they all poured petrol on the boy and set him on fire. As he began screaming, they drove him out of their house and started shouting that the victim had attacked their house with a petrol bomb," said a source.
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Justice Ranjit Singh (retd), who headed the commission appointed by the previous Congress government into the alleged incidents of sacrilege of Sri Guru Granth Sahib and the subsequent police firing on protesters, has placed the then Chief Minister, the SAD patriarch, and then DGP Saini in dock.
According to Goa police, Sonali Phogat felt uneasy on Monday night and later in the morning (on Tuesday), she was taken to St. Anthony hospital in Anjuna at around 8 a.m., where she was declared brought dead. She had come to Goa on August 22 and was staying at a hotel in Anjuna.
Addressing the media here, Badal said "there should be a free and fair inquiry against all political leaders, including Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia and MP Raghav Chadha, as well as Punjab government officials who facilitated the scam".
The contraband was hidden in the large growth of elephantine grass near border pillar No. 29/09, which was recovered by a BSF patrolling party led by Deputy Commandant Jaipal Singh. The BSF has lodged an FIR with the police but no arrests have been made so far.
