Kaushal, Dhillon fail to show up at VB office, summoned again

Former irrigation minister and senior SAD leader Sharanjit Dhillon and former chief secretary Sarvesh Kaushal failed to appear before the Punjab Vigilance and Anticorruption Bureau in the alleged multi-crore Irrigation scam case on Tuesday. VB has decided to summon the duo again.

VB had summoned the duo in the ongoing probe into an alleged multi-crore scam in the irrigation department and both were asked to appear before the officers of VB at Mohali today.

Kaushal, a 1982-batch IAS officer, remained chief secretary between June 2014 and March 2017. He retired in August 2018. Dhillon remained the irrigation minister between 2012 and 2017 and was considered one of the powerful ministers during the Akali regime.

Both were summoned in the FIR registered on August 17, 2017, under the Prevention of Corruption Act against kingpin and contractor Gurinder Singh and three senior officers of the Punjab government for alleged misuse of public funds.

“While Kaushal is said to be abroad and would be summoned again, Dhillon would appear on Friday as he conveyed that he was not keeping well,” said a VB official. The vigilance bureau has alleged that during the Akali government’s tenure, senior officials connived with the contractor Gurinder Singh and allocated works worth ₹1,000 cr to him at more than 50% of the departmental rates. Gurinder was arrested by the VB in 2017 and at present is out on bail.