Sadhu Dharamsot, senior Congress leader and former Punjab minister arrested

CHANDIGARH: Punjab Vigilance Bureau under the Prevention of Corruption Act (PCA) has arrested Sadhu Singh Dharamsot, former Punjab cabinet minister and senior Congress leader, early today morning.

According to sources, along with Dharamsot, a journalist working with a Punjabi daily Kamaljit Singh, who was allegedly his aid were arrested by the Vigilance Bureau from Amloh.

Under Captain Amarinder Singh, former Punjab chief minister, Dharamsot was the Social Welfare and Forest Minister in the Cabinet, according to the New Indian Express.

A few days ago, the bureau arrested Gurnampreet Singh, a Divisional Forest Officer (DFO) in Mohali, and Hummi alias Harminder Singh, a contractor. They alleged that Dharamsot had paid a bribe and told the bureau officials about the mistakes made by Dharamsot in the forest department. Dharamsot is reported to have links with the arrested forest officials and the bureau has collected evidence against him in its investigation.

A Vigilance Bureau official claimed that Harminder Singh was bribing Dharamsot through Kamaljeet. He is also accused of being involved in the illegal felling of more than 25,000 trees, with contractors paying Rs 500 per tree for development projects and taking 'money for transfers'. There is also evidence that he was involved in corruption in the forest and social welfare departments.

Dharamsot had earlier been accused of embezzling funds under the SC Post-Matric Scholarship Scheme. On August 24, 2020, a senior IAS officer, Kirpa Shankar Saroj, reported to the then Chief Secretary that Rs 55.71 crore had been embezzled. But the then government gave him a 'clean chit'.