CHANDIGARH, Oct 16:
Former Punjab Minister Sunder Sham Arora was arrested by the state Vigilance Bureau for allegedly offering a bribe of Rs 50 lakh to one of its officers to “settle” the ongoing inquiries against him, a senior official said on Sunday.
Arora, who joined the BJP after quitting the Congress in June, was arrested on Saturday night in Zirakpur in Mohali when he tried to allegedly hand over the cash to the Assistant Inspector General of the Vigilance Bureau.
A Mohali court on Sunday sent Arora to police remand for three days. Arora is the third former minister of the previous Congress government to be arrested after the AAP Government came to power in March this year.
Earlier, the Vigilance Bureau had arrested former ministers Sadhu Singh Dharamsot and Bharat Bhushan Ashu in different cases.
Arora has been facing inquiries in a disproportionate assets case and alleged irregularities during his tenure as industries minister in the previous Congress Government.
He refused to comment on allegations of offering a bribe to the vigilance office. (PTI)
“I have complete faith in the court. Everything will be fine,” he told reporters when he was being taken to the court in Mohali.
Earlier in the day, Varinder Kumar, chief director of the Punjab Vigilance Bureau, told reporters that Arora was arrested for allegedly offering Rs 50 lakh in bribe to the vigilance officer to “help” him in these cases.
Kumar said Arora allegedly contacted AIG Manmohan Kumar Sharma, who is supervising the inquiries, on October 14 and told him to help him clear his name in the inquiries.
The former minister allegedly offered to pay Rs one crore for it, said Kumar.
He said he will pay Rs 50 lakh as the first installment and the remaining amount later, the chief director alleged.
After Sharma brought it to the notice of his seniors, a case was registered and a trap was laid to arrest Arora.
He was arrested when he tried to hand over a bag containing Rs 50 lakh cash, Kumar alleged.
A case under the relevant section of the Prevention of Corruption Act has been registered against him, said Kumar.
The medical examination of Arora was conducted before producing him before the Mohali court.
A vigilance bureau official later said the court granted a three-day police remand and he will be produced before the court on October 19.
Arora has been under vigilance scanner for the alleged irregularities in the allotment of industrial plots of the Punjab Small Industries and Export Corporation and the sale of a 32-acre of the commercial plot of JCT Electronics Limited in Mohali to a realty firm when he was the industries minister in the previous government.
Soon after the AAP formed the government in Punjab, it had said there would be zero tolerance towards corruption.
Former minister Dharamsot, who was the forest minister in the Amarinder Singh-led government, was arrested in June in a corruption case.
Ex-minister Sangat Singh Gilzian, who was the forest minister in the Charanjit Singh Channi-led government, was booked in the same corruption case.
Former Food and Civil Supplies minister Ashu was arrested in August in an alleged food grain transportation scam. (PTI)
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