Ex-Punjab minister Bharat Bhushan Ashu arrested on corruption charges
Chandigarh/IBNS: Former Punjab minister and Congress leader Bharat Bhushan Ashu has been arrested by the vigilance bureau over charges of corruption against him.
Bharat Bhushan Ashu, the former food and civil supplies minister, is at the centre of allegations in connection with a transport scam in which tenders were allocated allegedly on fake registration numbers of vehicles.
According to an official statement earlier, "a case was registered against former minister of food, civil supplies and consumer affairs Bharat Bhushan Ashu on Friday in the scam of allotting transportation tenders on fake registration numbers of vehicles".
A probe is underway and more officials of the food and civil supplies department are under the scanner.
The minister was arrested hours after a protest was staged outside the vigilance bureau's office in Mohali. He was arrested at a salon in Ludhiana.
Earlier in the day, Punjab Congress leaders protested against the vigilance bureau's probe, alleging that the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government is using the bureau for political vendetta.
The leaders, including Punjab Congress chief Amrinder Singh Raja Warring, accused the AAP government of indulging in "vendetta and witch-hunt in Punjab" to divert attention from the heat it's facing from probe agencies in Delhi.
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