The Punjab Vigilance Bureau (VB) in the wee hours of Tuesday arrested former Forest Minister and Congress leader Sadhu Singh Dharamsot for his alleged involvement in organised corruption, even as the Congress party termed the arrest an act of “political vendetta”.
Former Forest Minister Sangat Singh Gilzian, who was a Minister for a few months in the previous Congress government, has been named in the FIR.
The VB in a statement on June 2, 2022 said an FIR under Sections 7, 7-A of Prevention of Corruption Act, and 120-B of India Penal Code (IPC) had been registered against Guramanpreet Singh, District Forest Officer, Mohali, and Harmohinder Singh, a private contractor, for demanding and accepting a bribe from “a coloniser” Davinder Singh Sandhu, in lieu of not demolishing farm houses developed by his company in the vicinity of New Chandigarh in Mohali of Sahibzada Ajit Singh Nagar district.
The statement said: “Both the accused were arrested and during their interrogation they have revealed that a deep rooted nexus of organized corruption has remained prevalent since 2017 in between politicians and their associates and officials of state forests department.”
The investigation is said to have revealed Mr. Dharamsot’s alleged involvement in organised corruption pertaining to the issuance of permits for the cutting of khair trees, transfer of officials, purchases, and issuance of No Objection Certificates (NOCs), etc.
In this connection, the VB also arrested Kamalpreet Singh Kamal, media advisor of the Minister, and Chamkaur Singh, a retired Range Officer-cum-Officer on Special Duty to the Minister, the statement added.
The statement said that following the revelations, another FIR on June 6, 2022 was registered under Sections 7, 7-A, 13(1) (A), and (2) of the Prevention of Corruption Act, and Section 120B of the IPC against Amit Chauhan (Indian Forest Service), Guramanpreet Singh (District Forest Officer), Dilpreet Singh (forest guard), S.S. Dharamsot (former Minister) and Sangat Singh Gilzian (former Minister), among others.
Punjab Congress president Amarinder Singh Raja Warring accused Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann of attempting to deflect public attention from problems that are plaguing the State, including lawlessness, unemployment, etc., by arresting Mr. Dharmsot.
He tweeted: “Mann sahib, as expected, you want to deflect main issues of lawlessness, unemployment and interference of Arvind Kejriwal and others in Punjab by arresting Sadhu Singh Dharamsot. Let law take its own course. Please do not make it Kangaroo Court justice. Political vendetta shall boomerang.”
