Former Congress minister Gurpreet Singh Kangar was grilled for over seven hours by the sleuths of the vigilance bureau (VB) at its zonal office in Bathinda on Monday.
The three-time legislator from Rampura Phul, Kangar was questioned in a case of disproportionate assets.
After losing the assembly election in 2022, Kangar joined the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in June last year to become the saffron party’s state general secretary.
“A verification process started a few weeks after inputs that Kangar possessed assets disproportionate to his known sources of income. The veteran politician was today given one-week time to submit details of his property and sources of income,” said an official source privy to the development.
Kangar reached the VB office at around 10 am and left the office around 5.30 pm. After a marathon questioning, Kangar said he is being harassed as a part of a political conspiracy. Kangar said he had a clean record of income, and he would not apply for anticipatory bail.
“My political opponents filed frivolous complaints against me. But I have to hide as the properties I and my family hold are inherited or earned with every penny accounted for. I am a strong votary of zero-tolerance towards corruption, and I will not file pre-arrest due to my confidence in my transparency in public life,” said the BJP leader.
{{/usCountry}}“My political opponents filed frivolous complaints against me. But I have to hide as the properties I and my family hold are inherited or earned with every penny accounted for. I am a strong votary of zero-tolerance towards corruption, and I will not file pre-arrest due to my confidence in my transparency in public life,” said the BJP leader.
{{/usCountry}}Kangar was revenue minister in the previous Congress government led by Capt Amarinder Singh.
However, he was dropped from the cabinet in September 2021 by Charanjit Singh Channi, who succeeded Amarinder after he resigned as the CM following months of infighting between him and then PCCC chief Navjot Singh Sidhu.