Dharamsot’s remand extended till June 13
MOHALI: A Mohali court on Friday extended the police remand of former Punjab forest minister Sadhu Singh Dharamsot, who was arrested on June 7 on corruption charges, till June 13.
While producing the Congress leader in court after his three-day remand ended on Friday, the vigilance bureau (VB) sought more time to question him, alleging that he was not cooperating.
The former forest minister, along with his successor Sangat Singh Gilzian, was booked under the Prevention of Corruption Act for allegedly taking kickbacks to issue permits to cut khair trees, transfer officials, make purchases and issue NOCs for private infrastructure development on forest land. The two are also accused of involvement in illegal sand mining on forest land in Kandi area.
The case was registered on the basis of revelations made by arrested Mohali divisional forest officer (DFO) Guramanpreet Singh and contractor Harminder Singh Hummy, who detailed various wrongdoings in the department during the tenure of the two ministers in the previous Congress regime.
As part of the probe, the VB has reportedly questioned six forest contractors out of the 15 in Kandi area. Sources said
these contractors have handed over concrete evidence against Dharamsot.
According to the FIR, Dharamsot used to collect kickbacks through Kamaljit Singh, a vernacular reporter and his media adviser, and Chamkaur Singh, a retired range officer appointed as his officer on special duty. The duo was arrested along with the former minister.
A senior VB officer, who is privy to the investigation, said they have recovered some incriminating data from a CPU recovered from Kamaljit’s house. “It details the money trail,” he said, on the condition of anonymity.
The bureau is also going through the former minister’s property details and bank statements. As part of the investigation, they also plan to bring all those arrested — Dharamsot, his two aides, DFO and contractor — face-to-face and quiz them
together, said the VB officer.