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Foodgrains transportation scam: Court reserves order on Bharat Bhushan Ashu’s bail plea for Sept 9
Ashu, who is currently in Patiala jail following the judicial remand, had submitted a regular bail plea in the court in the foodgrains transportation scam
A local court on Wednesday, after hearing the bail plea of former Congress minister Bharat Bhushan Ashu who was booked by the state vigilance bureau in the alleged ₹2,000 crore food grains transportation tenders scam, reserved the order for September 9.
Ashu, who is currently in Patiala jail following the judicial remand, had submitted a regular bail plea in the court of additional session judge Dr Ajit Attri on September 2.
The former minister’s counsel contended that Ashu, being a minister, cannot be held accountable for the discrepancies, if any, in district-level tasks.
The counsel added that it was not the duty of Ashu to allot tenders pertaining to lifting of grains and rather it was monitored by a district level committee under the supervision of the concerned deputy commissioner — and thus the minister did not have any role in it.
Ashu’s counsel further averred that the former cabinet minister was wrongly booked.
“Firstly the FIR was registered on the basis of mere Assumptions and there is nothing concrete to prove those. Those who suggested to register FIR against Ashu were eventually made witnesses in the case and thus their statements can not be admissible. It is a case of no evidence,” defence counsel Parupkar Singh Ghumman said.
The vigilance bureau, meanwhile, is investigating the Whatsapp chat of the two employees of the food and supply department — who allegedly chatted about arranging funds for a Congress rally.
Ashu was arrested last month for his alleged involvement in the alleged scam related to allotment of tender for transportation of grains during his tenure as food and supply minister in the previous Congress government. It was alleged that the tenders for transportation were allotted on a fake registration number of vehicles.
