The Punjab Vigilance Bureau on Tuesday arrested former forest minister in Amarinder Singh government , Sadhu Singh Dharamsot, for being involved in organised corruption pertaining to the issuance of permits for cutting of Khair trees, transfer of officials, purchases, and issuance of no objection certificates (NOCs).

In this connection, the Bureau has also arrested a journalist Kamalpreet Singh Kamal who served the minister as media advisor and Chamkaur Singh who is a retired range officer-cum-OSD (officer on special duty) to the minister.

A spokesperson of the Vigilance Bureau (VB) said a corruption case was registered on 2 June against Guramanpreet Singh, district forest officer (DFO) Mohali and Harmohinder Singh alias Hummy, private contractor for demanding and accepting bribe from coloniser Davinder Singh Sandhu in lieu of not demolishing farm houses developed by his company WWICS in the vicinity of New Chandigarh, Mohali.

“Both the accused were arrested on 2 June and during their interrogation they have revealed that a deep rooted nexus of organised corruption has remained prevalent since 2017 in between politicians and their associates and officials of state forests department,” the spokesperson said adding a diary recovered from Harmohinder has revealed the modus-operandi of the culprits which led to the minister’s arrest.

“He (Harmohinder) had obtained permits for cutting of about 7000 trees for the October-March season for which he had to pay bribe of Rs 1000 per tree, which includes the payment of Rs 500 to Sadhu Singh Dharamsot, former forests minister, Rs 200 to divisional forest officer and Rs 100 each to range officer, block officer and forest guard, respectively,” the spokesperson said adding the contractor had given Rs Seven lakh as bribe during the season.

“Apart from him, there were 15 other contractors in Mohali who, like him, also had to give similar bribes, otherwise they were denied permits or were harassed with the threat of heavy fines.  The payment to Dharamsot was routed through Kamaljit Singh,” the spokesperson added.

Harmohinder had obtained a permit for cutting of 1160 trees at Badiali Kalan, sub-division Sri Anandpur Sahib after giving a bribe of Rs 5,80,000 (Rs 500 per tree), the spokesperson said. He said former minister Dharamsot used to get bribe of Rs 10 lakh to Rs Two lakh for the transfers of DFO, Rangers, Block Officers and Forest Guards.

Besides, Dharamsot used to get bribes from colonisers, newly installed filling stations, owners of new projects as well as hotels and restaurants for issuance of NOCs in lieu of passage on forests land through Chamkaur Singh and Kamaljit Singh, the spokesperson said.

The VB spokesperson said Harmohinder Singh contractor had given Rs Five lakh as a bribe to another former forests minister in Charanjit Singh Channi government, Sangat Singh Gilzian for issuance of a permit for cutting of khair trees at village Nada, Mohali district.  Gilzian allegedly collected Rs 6,40,00,000 as bribe in purchase of tree guards.