Grain transport scam: Bag sneaked out of Ahsu’s house during search, vigilance tells court

A local court extended former minister’s remand for two days though the vigilance bureau sought his custody for seven more days

LUDHIANA: As officials of the Punjab vigilance bureau (VB) were conducting searches at the residence of former minister Bharat Bhushan Ashu, following his arrest on the night of August 22, an unidentified man managed to sneak out of the house with a bag of valuables and handed that bag to Ashu’s personal assistant Inderjit, Singh alias Indi, a co-accused in the case who is on the run.

Former minister Bharat Bhushan Ashu being produced in a Ludhiana court on Saturday.

The entire chain of events has been recorded in the CCTV footage procured by the vigilance sleuths with cops on a lookout for the man and the bag of valuables.

The police remand of ex-minister Bharat Bhushan Ashu was further extended by two days on Saturday by the court of duty magistrate Arti Sharma. While pleading for seven-day custody of Ashu, the prosecution apprised court of the bag of valuables which has been shifted from Ashu’s house at the time of search.

“We have evidence in the form of CCTV footage recorded at 10 pm on the night of August 22 outside Ashu’s residence that a man has sneaked out with a bag of valuables and handed those over to his PA waiting at a distance on a bike. We need to identify the man as we strongly suspect the contained important documents that provided vital evidence into the grain transport scam,” prosecution told court while pleading for extension of police custody of Ashu on Saturday.

Pointing towards the involvement of Ashu, the Vigilance also stated that they need to probe how his personal assistant now accused Meenu Malhotra managed to buy six prime properties in a quick span of three years when Ashu was the Minister.

“There were discrepancies in the allotment of tenders for grain transportation and our investigations have revealed that the State panel committee had also objected to the same. Ashu is not cooperating with the police at all and further remand is required to unearth the scam and gather further evidence in the case,” prosecution told court. Ashu will now be produced in the court on Monday.

No case, no evidence, defence counsel cries foul

Asserting that there is not an iota of evidence in the case against the ex-minister, the defence cousel in the case argued that the case is not made out as the contractor arrested in the case has retracted from his disclosure statements and has said that he never met Ashu.

The defence counsel also denied that Meenu Malhotra or Inderjit Singh Nadi were Ashu’s PA’s. “Who appointed these as PA’s. Their name is not in any government record,” state the counsel.

Punjab vigilance bureau had on Monday arrested Congress leader Bharat Bhushan Ashu over alleged irregularities in awarding contracts for transporting food grains on fake vehicle registration numbers during his tenure as food and civil supplies minister in the previous government.

VB grills Ludhiana mayor

The VB on Saturday summoned Ludhiana mayor Balkar Singh Sandhu for questioning into the ₹2,000 crore grain transport scam involving ex-minister Bharat Bhushan Ashu. The officials grilled the mayor for over one-and-a-half hours. After coming out from the vigilance office, the Mayor said that he responded to all the questions posed the vigilance officers.

Congress mayor Balkar Singh Sidhu is close to Ashu, for which he has remained on the target of the opposition. The opposition used to allege that Balkar is a rubber stamp, while Mamta Ashu, councillor and wife of Bharat Bhushan Ashu, is the ‘undeclared mayor’ of the city.

Senior superintendent of police (SSP, Vigilance) Ravinderpal Singh said that though the vigilance bureau has no evidence against the Mayor for his involvement in the scam, but they wanted to clear some issues, which is why he was summoned. He may be called again for the questioning, said the SSP.

(With inputs from Tarsem Singh Deogan)