Irrigation scam: Former Punjab minister Dhillon breaks silence, claims political vendetta

Dhillon, who was a minister during the SAD-Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) coalition government, held a press conference and demanded a closure of the case

Breaking his silence in the alleged irrigation scam that had kept the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) on the backfoot during the period when the Congress was in power in the state, former cabinet minister Sharanjit Singh Dhillon .

Former SAD leader and Punjab ,minister Simaranjit Singh Dhillon addressing the media persons in Ludhiana. (Harvinder Singh/HT)

Dhillon, who was a minister during the SAD-Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) coalition government, held a press conference and demanded a closure of the case.

Claiming to be a victim of political vendetta, he said the case had caused him immense mental agony. He denied any wrongdoing or a scam and said it was all contrived by the then bureaucratic machirey under Congress government to malign the image of SAD leaders.

Dhillon said since the new Aam Aadmi Party’s (AAP) government has come into power riding on the promise of giving honest administration, he expected justice and a closure to the chapter.

Dhillon was accompanied by lawyer and Akali leader Harish Rai Dhanda, who said the entire case was made up to prevent some IAS officers from being elevated to the post of chief secretary, adding that the names of SAD ministers Dhillon and Janmeja Singh Sekhon were included to draw eyeballs.

Claiming document proof that a notice was sent to contractor Gurinder Singh, the alleged accused in the ₹1,000 crore irrigation scam, Dhanda said the contractor had never named the former irrigation minister..

Dhanda, meanwhile, said the Punjab and Haryana high court in a July 2021 order, had directed the state to look into the allegations of a shoddy probe, but nothing came of it.

The FIR in this case was registered on August 17, 2017, during the first year of the Congress-led government under the Prevention of Corruption Act and other sections of the Indian Penal Code at the vigilance police station in Mohali for alleged misuse of public funds and causing financial loss to the state exchequer.