At least 16 former Congress MLAs, including former chief minister Charanjit Singh Channi, his deputy OP Soni and seven former ministers are currently facing disproportionate assets (DA) inquiry.
In a major setback to Congress in Punjab, the Vigilance Bureau (VB) on Tuesday arrested party’s former legislator from Faridkot Kushaldeep Singh Dhillon for allegedly amassing wealth and making expenditure of about 245 per cent beyond his known sources of income.
Dhillon was the chairman of Markfed, a state-run premium cooperative organization, in the previous Congress government headed by former chief minister Charanjit Singh Channi.
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Disclosing this on Tuesday, a spokesperson of the state VB said a corruption case has been registered against the former member of legislative assembly (MLA), along with co-accused Gursewak Singh, resident of village Nanaksar, Faridkot district, and Rajwinder Singh, resident of village Dhanna Shaheed, Ferozepur district after a vigilance inquiry.
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The spokesperson said to assess Dhillon’s all moveable and immovable assets, a check period of five years, from 1 April 2017 to 31 March 2022, was fixed by the Bureau. During the probe, it was found that Dhillon had created wealth beyond all his income and purchased properties in the names of other persons in village Mumara, tehsil Sadik, Faridkot.
The spokesperson said in this regard, a case under section 13(1), 13(2) of prevention of corruption act and 120-B of IPC has been registered against all the above said accused at VB police station Ferozepur range.
He further said that the former MLA has been arrested in the case and would be produced in the competent court tomorrow. Further investigation in this case was under progress, he added.
At least 16 former Congress MLAs, who were part of the previous Punjab government, including then CM Charanjit Singh Channi, deputy CM OP Soni and seven former ministers are currently facing disproportionate assets (DA) inquiry apart from other corruption cases. Of them, two former MLAs and three former ministers have been arrested till now since the formation of the Aam Aadmi party government in the state. Of the four arrested, three later secured bail.
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