Bribery case: Former Punjab minister Arora sent to judicial custody
Former Punjab minister Sunder Sham Arora was caught red-handed from Zirakpur on Saturday and recovered ₹50 lakh which he allegedly brought to hand over to Manmohan Kumar, assistant inspector general, VB, flying squad, Punjab, to settle the ongoing cases against him
After the vigilance bureau failed to make a case for recovery, a Mohali court on Wednesday sent BJP leader Sunder Sham Arora, who was a Punjab minister under the Congress regime, to judicial custody.
Punjab vigilance bureau had arrested Arora red-handed from Zirakpur on Saturday and recovered ₹50 lakh which he allegedly brought to hand over to Manmohan Kumar, assistant inspector general, VB, flying squad, Punjab, to settle the ongoing cases against him.
While seeking extended custody of Arora, the vigilance said that the car recovered from him was registered in the name of a realtor, Deepak Garg.
“The car in which Arora came to meet the AIG on the day of his arrest is owned by his associate Garg. Despite numerous notices to him, he couldn’t join the interrogation citing his health issues. It is important to probe Garg’s role in the case as there might be possibility that he gave the money to Arora for bribing the official,” a senior vigilance officer told the court.
The vigilance said that Arora owns multiple joint properties which he bought with Garg, his brother Devi Dyal, Shadi Lal and Manmohan Kapoor, which also need to be investigated.
It further said that the source of ₹1 crore bribe offered by Arora was required to be probed during the extended custody of the former minister.
However, HS Dhanoa and HS Saini, the counsels for Arora, opposing the remand argued that vigilance failed to make any recovery from his house despite raiding it thrice.
Dhanoa contended, “It is not a case of disproportionate assets and the case is of ₹50 lakh recovery during a trap. Both subject matter ( ₹50 lakh) and the accused are in custody. If the vigilance wants to interrogate Garg or any other associate of Arora, there is no need for the accused to stay in police custody.”
He said that the vigilance failed to recover anything citing the same grounds of tracing the source of the bribe money offered while seeking the first remand of three days.
After observing the repeated grounds submitted by the VB for the further remand of Arora, the court sent him to judicial custody.
