Chandigarh: A court in Chandigarh Tuesday sent former Punjab minister Sadhu Singh Dharamsot to three-day custody of the Vigilance Bureau. The Congress leader was produced before a Mohali court after his arrest on Monday by the Vigilance Bureau in a disproportionate assets case.
The bureau had sought Dharamsot on a seven-day remand. The Punjab Vigilance Bureau had arrested Dharamsot for allegedly amassing wealth beyond known sources of income from his residence on Monday evening. The arrest of the Congress minister is part of the anti-corruption launched by the bureau recently.
"Sadhu Singh Dharamsot has been arrested on the basis of some specific charges. It has been noticed that he has amassed more wealth than his income. The department has filed a case under section 13(1) (b), 13(2) of the Prevention of Corruption Act at the police station Mohali. He was produced before the court on Tuesday," a spokesperson of the bureau said in a statement.
Elaborating on wealth accumulation by the former Punjab Minister, the spokesperson said, "Interestingly enough, his family income was Rs 2,37,12,596 while the expenditure shown is Rs 8,76,30,888 which is Rs 6,39,18,292 more. Moreover, his wealth is 269 percent higher than his income. We are trying to make a detailed statement of his accounts," the spokesperson said.
Though there were several allegations against Dharmasot, no legal action was taken against him. Dharmasot, a cabinet member in the previous Captain Amarinder Singh-led government, was accused of alleged forest and post-matric scholarship scams. The minister was also accused of taking financial favours to the tune of Rs 63.91 crore in the scholarship scam.
Even the former Punjab government had formed a three-member committee to probe the allegation but the committee gave him a clean chit. Ironically, while Dharamsot was arrested on Monday, he was out of jail on bail in another vigilance case against him.
