Facing allegations of his involvement in the supply of ‘spurious’ pesticides to the cotton growers whose crops have been damaged by the whitefly pest attack, Punjab Agriculture Director Mangal Singh Sandhu faced arrest on Monday.
The police recovered 53 bottles of imported liquor, 1,300 Canadian dollars, 1200 US dollars and over Rs4 lakh in cash from Sandhu’s house.
later, Bathinda local court remanded Sandhu to the police custody for three days. Sandhu has been booked for cheating and corruption.
A police team from Bathinda raided Sandhu’s house on late Sunday night, and arrested him from his residence in Chandigarh, said Bathinda Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Indermohan Singh Bhatti.
Sandhu’s name surfaced during police investigation which claimed that he allegedly took money for the supply of ‘spurious’ pesticides from the suppliers.
Spurious and poor quality pesticides, worth Rs33 crore, were purchased by the agriculture department without following the tendering process. The pesticide was distributed among cotton-growing farmers in Malwa belt of south-west Punjab. Samples of the pesticide failed tests conducted by the Government agencies. The cotton farmers in the State have suffered losses running into millions of rupees due to the white-fly pest attack on the crop.
On September 2, Bathinda police had registered a case in connection with the supply of spurious pesticides and had nabbed a representative of pesticide supplier who had disclosed that Agriculture Director allegedly accepted graft money for the supply of spurious pesticide.
Facing the ire of the Opposition Congress and the farmers for extensive damage to the cotton crop by whitefly attack, Punjab Government had removed Sandhu from his post on September 17. However, Sandhu moved the Punjab and Haryana High Court which stayed his removal.
Punjab Congress had upped its ante against the SAD-BJP-led Government over the supply of spurious pesticides which led to cotton damage. It has all along been demanding the resignation of Agriculture Minister Tota Singh and a judicial probe in the matter.
The issue of spurious pesticides had even rocked the Punjab Vidhan Sabha Session last month when the Congress had accused the State Government of buying pesticides for cotton at a much higher rate than the prevailing market rate while alleging that there was a “big scam”.
Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal had even assured the House that anyone found guilty of supplying spurious pesticides to the cotton cultivators in the State would not be spared at any cost.
The State Government had already ordered a probe into the sale of “spurious” pesticides by a Special Investigation Team (SIT) comprising three Inspector Generals of Police under the direct supervision of Additional Director General of Police (ADGP) Crime.
Farmers have been agitating in Bathinda and other places for nearly three weeks over the Government’s apathy towards their plight. They are up in arms against the State Government for its failure to help them and for providing poor quality pesticides.
A war of words also broke out over the pesticide scam as Agriculture Minister Tota Singh blamed the agriculture director for the procurement of spurious pesticide.
After Sandhu’s statement in a section of the media blaming Tota Singh and even pointed to Chief Minister Badal’s involvement in decision-making on purchase of pesticide, the Minister said that the officer was muddling the facts to save his own skin.