Hindustan Times (Amritsar)

VB ‘clean chit’ to Badal aide in job scam

- Ravinder Vasudeva ravinder.vasudeva@hindustant­imes.com

CHANDIGARH: The vigilance bureau has not found any link of former chief minister Parkash Singh Badal’s controvers­ial aide and Shiromani Akali Dal’s Muktsar unit president Dayal Singh Kolianwali with the recruitmen­t scam in the local bodies department and Punjab Urban Planning and Developmen­t Authority (PUDA).

Kolianwali’s name cropped up in the scam that rocked the then government last year after VB arrested his associate and Malout Akali councillor Sham Lal Gupta alias Daddi. Gupta is one of the accused in the case.

‘NO LINK OF HIGH-PROFILE POLITICIAN­S’

“We found no involvemen­t of high-profile political leaders in the scam. Three kingpins the VB arrested on Wednesday were thoroughly quizzed. Two persons, who assisted the kingpins, were on our radar,” said VB director G Nageswara Rao.

In the run-up to the 2017 assembly elections, Kolianwali became the target of the Congress and the Aam Aadmi Party.

CAPT TARGETED HIM IN RALLY LAST YEAR

Addressing a gathering in Lambi on June 19 last year, Capt Amarinder Singh had said, “Some persons close to the Badal family, especially Kolianwali, are charging ₹15 lakh for a clerical job and ₹50 lakh for an engineerin­g job in PUDA. This will not be allowed. The VB is targeting only those who got jobs by paying money but not the ones behind the scam.”

 ??  ?? Dayal Singh Kolianwali’s name cropped up in the scam after VB arrested his associate Sham Lal Gupta in the case.
Dayal Singh Kolianwali’s name cropped up in the scam after VB arrested his associate Sham Lal Gupta in the case.

Newspapers in English

Newspapers from India