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, 1,200 US dollars and over Rs4 lakh in cash from Sandhu’s house. later, Bathinda local court remanded Sandhu to 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.