Sadhu Singh Dharamsot has been arrested by the Vigilance Bureau!
Former minister and Congress leader Sadhu Singh Dharamsot has been arrested by the Vigilance Bureau on the charge of corruption. He was Punjab's Minister of Forests and Social Welfare in the Captain Amarinder Singh Cabinet.
The allegations against him include receipt of bribes for granting permission to cut trees during his tenure as the Minister of Forests in Punjab. He was allegedly paid Rs 500 per tree by contractors when trees were axed to execute development projects.
He has also been accused of masterminding a multi-crore scam in Dalit scholarship schemes.
This comes after the arrest of district forest officer Guramanpreet Singh and contractor Harminder Singh Hummy last week, who sources say, reportedly provided details of the alleged wrongdoings in the forest department when Mr. Dharamsot was the minister.
According to the information, The bureau has also arrested journalist Kamaljit Singh who, sources say, is a close associate of the Congress leader.
Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann in April had warned of action against the former minister.
Eradication of corruption was one of the key promises of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP). The party had bagged 92 of the 117 seats in Punjab, decimating the Congress, the Shiromani Akali Dal-Bahujan Samaj Party combine, and the BJP-Punjab Lok Congress-SAD (Sanyukt) alliance in the 2022 state assembly polls.
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