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Punjab Vigilance Bureau arrests former deputy CM Soni in DA case
Former deputy chief minister OP Soni has been arrested by the Punjab Vigilance Bureau for accumulating assets disproportionately to his known sources of income between 2016 and 2022. He is the fourth former Congress minister to be arrested, and investigations in the case are ongoing.
Punjab Vigilance Bureau (VB) on Sunday arrested former deputy chief minister OP Soni for amassing assets disproportionately to his known sources of income during the period of 2016 to 2022.
Disclosing this here on Sunday, an official spokesperson of the VB said a case was registered under Sections 13 (1) (b) and 13 (2) of the Prevention of Corruption Act at VB police station in Amritsar Range against OP Soni following investigations in an inquiry, which was ordered on October 10, 2022.
Divulging details, he said between April 1, 2016 and March 31, 2022, the income of the former deputy CM and his family was ₹4.52 crore while the expenditure was ₹12.48 crore which was ₹7.96 crore or 176.08% more than his known sources of income. During this period, OP Soni had made properties in the name of his wife Suman Soni and son Raghav Soni, he added.
The spokesperson said further investigations in the case are on.
Punjab Government had received a complaint alleging that the former deputy chief minister had accumulated movable and immovable assets beyond his known sources of income.
Soni is the fourth former Congress minister to be arrested. The VB has already arrested former ministers Sadhu Singh Dharamsot, Bharat Bhushan Ashu and Sunder Sham Arora.
Earlier in February, the VB arrested former forest minister Sadhu Singh Dharamsot for amassing assets disproportionate to his known sources of income.
In October 2022, former Congress minister Sham Sundar Arora was arrested while allegedly offering ₹50 lakh to VB officials to settle his alleged disproportionate assets case.
Soni is among 10 former ministers of the Congress, including former chief minister Charanjit Singh Channi, Brahm Mohindra, Sadhu Singh Dharamsot, Sunder Sham Arora, Balbir Singh Sidhu, Gurpreet Singh Kangar, Bharat Bhushan Ashu, Vijay Inder Singla and Sangat Singh Gilzian, who are facing VB probes for corruption.
The VB is also conducting probes against five former Congress MLAs -– Dalvir Singh Goldy, Kuldeep Vaid, Satkar Kaur, Madan Lal Jalalpur and Kushaldeep Singh Dhillon.
