E-Paper
Foodgrain transportation scam: HC quashes 2 FIRs against ex-minister Ashu
Both the FIRs were registered under the Prevention of Corruption Act and various other provisions of the Indian Penal Code in an alleged ₹2,000-crore scam involving the transportation of foodgrains during the previous Congress regime from 2017-2022.
The Punjab and Haryana high court on Friday quashed two criminal cases registered against former Congress minister Bharat Bhushan Ashu. While one FIR was registered on August 16, 2022, in Ludhiana by the vigilance bureau, the second FIR was registered by the vigilance bureau on September 22, 2022, in Jalandhar.
Both the FIRs were registered under the Prevention of Corruption Act and various other provisions of the Indian Penal Code in an alleged ₹2,000-crore scam involving the transportation of foodgrains during the previous Congress regime from 2017-2022.
In the August 2022 FIR, the allegations are that when he was the minister of food, civil supplies and consumer affairs during the Congress regime, he allegedly indulged in corruption in awarding tenders for transportation of food grains. The Jalandhar FIR was based on allegations of receiving bribes through his conduits for compromising tender for food procurement and transportation, its quality, and its conditions.
Seeking quashing of the same, the former minister had approached the high court in 2022, claiming that the FIRs were a result of a ‘political vendetta’ and that he had been ‘implicated’ in order to publicly humiliate him.
Detailed judgment is awaited. However, lawyers associated with the case, senior advocate Bipan Ghai confirmed the development.
Meanwhile, the high court on Friday also granted bail to the former minister in an enforcement directorate (ED) case. The ED had initiated a parallel probe into the money trail under the PMLA after the VB registered multiple FIRs against Ashu and others in the food grain transportation scam. The special PMLA court in Jalandhar had dismissed his bail plea on October 17. He was arrested by the central agency on August 1 in the alleged ₹2,000-crore foodgrain transportation-linked money-laundering case. He had approached the high court on October 28.
