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Disproportionate assets case: OP Soni hospitalised after court grants his 2-day remand to VB
According to Vigilance Bureau, from April 1, 2016, to March 31, 2022, the income of the Congress leader and his family was ₹4,52,18,771, while the expenditure was ₹12,48,42,692, which was ₹7,96,23,921 or 176.08% more than his known sources of income.
Local court in Amritsar sent Congress’s former deputy chief minister Om Parkash Soni to two-day remand, a day after he was arrested from Chandigarh, on Monday.
However, soon after his appearance in court, Soni was admitted to a private hospital here. The ex-deputy CM was arrested on Sunday for amassing assets disproportionately to his known sources of income from 2016 to 2022.
According to Vigilance Bureau, from April 1, 2016, to March 31, 2022, the income of the Congress leader and his family was ₹4,52,18,771, while the expenditure was ₹12,48,42,692, which was ₹7,96,23,921 or 176.08% more than his known sources of income.
During this period, the accused had allegedly made properties in the name of his wife Suman Soni and son Raghav Soni, a VB official said on the condition of anonymity.
Senior superintendent of police (SSP), Vigilance, Amritsar, Varinder Singh Sandhu said the court has granted Soni’s two-day remand. “Soni’s doctors, however, have said that he is a heart patient and his blood pressure has been increasing. He is now admitted to a hospital.”
Soni is the fourth former Congress minister to be arrested. The vigilance has already arrested former ministers Sadhu Singh Dharamsot, Bharat Bhushan Ashu and Sunder Sham Arora. Soni is among ten former ministers, including former chief minister Charanjit Singh Channi, who are facing vigilance investigations.
Meanwhile, senior Congress leaders, including Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee chief Amrinder Singh Raja Warring, leader of opposition (LoP) in Punjab Partap Singh Bajwa, former deputy chief minister Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa, held a press conference in Amritsar terming the vigilance action against Soni as political vendetta.
Warring said Soni was arrested as per the scripted story of Punjab chief minister Bhagwant Mann. “Earlier, too, our leaders were arrested by vigilance. It’s a vendetta politics. There is a zero recovery from our leaders, many of whom have already been granted bail,” he said.
“Soni had cooperated with the vigilance team whenever called. He provided all records of his property to VB, but still, he was arrested. The VB should show in public the record if Soni has done anything wrong. This is a fake case registered under political pressure,” he said.
He said earlier, the state government wanted to entangle Soni in a health department-related scam, but nothing was found.
Bajwa said that AAP has clear double standards. On one hand, it has accused Congress time and again, and on the other, they seek support from Congress on the ordinance brought by the BJP-led central government.
“It’s not only AAP Punjab leaders, legislators and cabinet ministers including Fauja Singh Srari, Amit Rattan Kotfatta, Vijay Singla, Sarbjit Kaur Manuke, Lal Chand Katarichak, and Surinder Kamboj (father of MLA Goldy Kamboj), who are facing grave charges of corruption and other sordid practice, but the senior leaders of AAP, including Manish Sisodia, Satyendar Jain and Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal are also facing serious corruption accusations”, Bajwa said.
