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Former Congress MLA arrested for illegal mining in Punjab
The case pertains to illegal mining reported from Maira Kalan village which falls under the Bhoa assembly segment in Pathankot district, from where Pal was elected as an MLA in 2017
The Punjab Police on Friday arrested Joginder Pal, former Congress MLA from Bhoa in Pathankot, in connection with an illegal mining case.
The development comes days after the Punjab vigilance bureau arrested former Congress minister Sadhu Singh Dharamsot and booked his successor and party colleague Sangat Singh Gilzian under the Prevention of Corruption Act for alleged irregularities in the forest department.
Shauharat Mann, station house officer (SHO) at Taragarh in Pathankot, said: “Joginder Pal has been arrested in the FIR number 49, which was registered at the Taragarh police station on June 8.” Before the assembly elections, Pal had courted controversy by thrashing a youth, who had dared to ask him what he had done for the people after becoming an MLA.
The FIR under which the former MLA has been arrested was registered on the complaint of mining inspector Vishal Attari under Section 21(1) of the Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) Act, 1957. The case pertains to illegal mining reported from Maira Kalan village which falls under the Bhoa assembly segment in Pathankot district, from where Pal was elected as the MLA in 2017. He lost the seat to the Aam Aadmi Party’s Lal Chand Kataruchak in 2022.
Senior superintendent of police (SSP), Pathankot, Arun Saini said that acting on “reliable telephonic information”, a police team was sent to the site of a crusher near Maira Kalan village on June 8, where some people were found carrying out illegal mining using a JCB machine.
The SSP said the police teams managed to recover the JCB machine and a tractor-trolley from the spot, but the driver identified as Sunil Kumar and the representative of the crusher, Prakash, managed to flee. The JCB machine was registered in the name of Krishna Washed Stone Crusher, Kidi Khurd village, Taragarh, he said. “During investigations, it was found that former Bhoa MLA Joginder Pal has 50% share in Krishna Washed Stone Crusher,” he said.
War of words erupts
Following the arrest, Punjab mining minister Harjot Singh Bains wrote on Twitter: “Those who looted Punjab and exploited our Mother Earth would not be spared. Joginder Pal, former MLA of Congress, was kingpin of mining mafia in Pathankot; he has been today arrested after thorough investigation. It’s just a beginning; no one from mining mafia will be spared.”
Chief minister Bhagwant Mann on Thursday had warned of exemplary action against politicians “who had looted the state to fill their coffers”. Addressing a road show while campaigning for the Sangrur Lok Sabha bypoll, Mann had said that the AAP government has prepared a list of such corrupt politicians.
Meanwhile, Punjab Congress president Amarinder Singh Raja Warring condemned the “arbitrary” arrest, calling it a clear case of “political vendetta”. “Pal’s name was added as an afterthought just to arrest him,” he claimed in a press statement.
The PPCC chief also asked the police not to succumb to the AAP pressure and falsely implicate people. “Please do your duty responsibly and ensure no innocent is harassed as you will be answerable as well,” he cautioned the police.
Alleged that there is an FIR against an AAP leader in a similar case, he told the CM not “camouflage” political vendetta as a war against corruption. “If that was the case, the police should have arrested the AAP leader against whom FIR has been registered over a month before the false FIR was registered against the Congress leader,” he said.
