Hours after Punjab's entire Congress leadership staged a massive protest outside the state Vigilance Bureau office in Mohali asking it to detain any of them, the Bureau on Monday evening arrested former Minister and senior Congress leader Bharat Bhushan Ashu from Ludhiana.
Earlier, the Ludhiana Vigilance Bureau had booked Ashu, the former Minister of Food, Civil Supplies and Consumer Affairs during the Congress regime, in the scam of allotting transportation tenders on fake registration numbers of vehicles. The Bureau had also booked Ashu’s personal assistant (PA) in the matter.
Ashu was in the hair salon in Ludhiana when the VB sleuths, in plain clothes, reached there and took him in custody. Congress MP from Ludhiana Ravneet Singh Bittu, who was present in the salon along with Ashu, entered a war of words with the Vigilance officers, asking them to show the summons, and their identity cards.
The arrest came later in the day when the Punjab Congress, led by the state unit chief Amrinder Singh Raja Warring, presented its entire leadership before the Vigilance Bureau saying that it could detain any of them as it was “fed up” of allegations of corruption against its leaders by the AAP led State Government.
The leaders, including Ashu, Bittu, former Deputy Chief Minister Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa, former Minister Tript Rajinder Singh Bajwa, MLA Rana Gurjit Singh, among others, accused the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) led State Government of indulging in “vendetta and witch-hunt in Punjab” to divert attention from the heat it’s facing from probe agencies in Delhi.
“While in Delhi they were crying persecution and victimhood, in Punjab they are resorting to a worse type of vendetta against their political opponents,” said Warring.
Punjab Congress had also handed over a memorandum at the VB office in Mohali, addressed to the State Vigilance Bureau Director, and left from outside the building as the contingent was not allowed in after staging two-hour-long protest.
Ashu, during the protest, also claimed that nothing has come up in the investigation against him; and “I am standing outside the vigilance office, you can arrest me”.
Throwing a challenge, Ashu said that he was prepared to get arrested as he got a suitcase of clothes and daily needs along in anticipation that vigilance will arrest him.
Following the arrest, party’s senior leaders including MLAs and former legislators started reaching the Vigilance Bureau’s office in Ludhiana. Warring, who was in Chandigarh, was also on his way to Ludhiana.
Warring had earlier alleged that cases are being registered against them on flimsy grounds, and without due procedure. “We are not saying that we are here to defend if anyone has done any wrong, but this vilification must stop,” said Warring.
The Congress’ memorandum stated, “We the Congress leaders from Punjab, who include sitting and former MLAs and former ministers have come here today to present ourselves before you as your department has launched a slanderous and malicious campaign against several of us without any reason and just to please your political bosses.”
“Every day, there are reports circulated by the department levelling baseless charges against former ministers accusing them of corruption to the tune of thousands of crores of rupees without the amount being accounted for...The way figures are magnified, dramatised and sensationalised, it is clear that there is deliberate design behind it to create a false perception among the public against the party leaders,” it added.
The memorandum stated, “The vigilance is being used by the government to cover up its failures in fulfilling the promises it had made as also to divert the attention from the corruption scandals that are tumbling down their cupboard in Delhi.”
“All of us have come here to present ourselves before the department so that you can detain anyone of us, or all of us, whomsoever you have any complaints against, rather about whom you have the directions from the powers that be, to fix,” it read.
The Congress leaders said that an attempt is being made to target former Food and Civil Supplies Minister Bharat Bhushan Ashu on baseless grounds. Ashu is at the centre of allegations in a transport scam in which tenders were allocated allegedly on fake registration numbers of vehicles. An inquiry is underway in the matter.
Congress’ Ludhiana MP Ravneet Singh Bittu said: “Contractors are being harassed, they are being pressured to take Ashu's name, electric shocks are being given to contractors to pressurise them.”
On the AAP government arresting its own Minister Vijay Singla earlier this year in connection with a corruption case, Warring said that the AAP wanted to take a moral high ground and did a “drama of catching their own Minister as their eye was on upcoming polls in Himachal and Gujarat.” Punjab and Haryana High court had last month granted bail to Singla.
“If Singla is so corrupt, why is he taking part in AAP meetings and meeting their ministers,” Warring asked.
The Congress leaders also sounded a stern warning to officials, asking them not to overstep their brief by acting blindly on the ''diktats'' of the AAP government.
Cong trying to shield its "venal" leaders: AAP
Lashing out at Congress for holding protest at Vigilance office on Monday, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) said that corrupt and nefarious people now cannot evade the ongoing investigations under Bhagwant Mann Government while advising Congress leaders to stand for the welfare of people rather than shielding its ‘venal’ leaders.
Rejecting the “frivolous” allegations of vendetta politics levelled by Congress, AAP’s chief spokesperson Malvinder Singh Kang questioned Punjab Congress president Amrinder Singh Raja Warring as to why all his leaders are afraid of Vigilance investigation. “If they are innocent and have nothing to hide, why are they running away from a fair probe? Face the equitable probe and prove their innocence in the Courts,” Kang said.
Giving the example of Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia, Kang said that Congress leaders should also face inquiry like him as he is innocent and not afraid of a fake case and truth will come out in the court soon. He advised Congress leaders to hold protests against rising inflations, corruption and drug mafia but not to save the corrupt leaders. The Mann government is committed to eradicate corruption and all perpetrators of looting public money will be taken to task.
He said that leaders of the previous government were involved in various scams, corruption cases and that now an honest government led by CM Mann is ruling the state, nefarious leaders are petrified that they will be punished for their sins and looting Punjabis.
BOX: THE CASE
Senior Congress leader and former Food, Civil Supplies and Consumer Affairs Minister Bharat Bhushan Ashu has been arrested by the Vigilance Bureau in a case of allotting transportation tenders on the fake registration numbers of vehicles. Ashu’s arrest came days after his close aide, Pankaj Meenu Malhotra, was booked in this matter.
Bureau, on August 16, had registered a case against the owner, partners of Gurdas Ram and Company, the officials of state Food and Civil Supplies Department, and the employees of concerned procurement agencies for allegedly committing irregularities in accepting labour, cartage and transportation tenders for grain markets in Ludhiana district.
The Bureau found that at the time of submitting tenders for 2020-21 with regard to labour, cartage and transportation works in Ludhiana district, the lists of vehicles submitted by the mentioned contractors were containing registration numbers of scooters, motorcycles, cars and other vehicles, which were not verified by concerned officers of district tender committee due to criminal connivance with each other. As per the Department’s policy, it was mandatory for the committee to reject the technical bid for this reason but the same was not done.
Further, in allotment of gate passes pertaining to loading and unloading of food grains, the registration numbers of vehicles used for the carriage have been found to be of scooters, motorcycles, and cars as such vehicles cannot transport goods. The details of the registration numbers of the said vehicles as well as the quantity of the commodity mentioned in these gate passes prima facie appears to be a case of fake reporting and embezzlement of the food grains mentioned in these gate passes.
On the basis of these gate passes, the Department officials have made payments to Telu Ram contractor, Jagroop Singh, partner of Gurdas Ram and Company and Sandeep Bhatia contractor without verifying the same.
Regarding the same, the Vigilance Bureau had registered a case for submitting and accepting fake documents, conniving with each other for committing misappropriation and fake transportation of goods.