Lagatar24 Desk
New Delhi, June 7: The Vigilance Bureau has detained former minister and Congress politician Sadhu Singh Dharamsot on charges of corruption. He served in Captain Amarinder Singh’s cabinet as Punjab’s Minister of Forests and Social Welfare.
During his time as Punjab’s Minister of Forests, he is accused of accepting payments in exchange for granting authority to take down trees. Contractors allegedly paid him Rs 500 per tree when trees were taken down to complete development projects.
He has also been accused of masterminding a multi-crore scam in Dalit scholarship schemes.
This follows the arrest last week of district forest officer Guramanpreet Singh and contractor Harminder Singh Hummy, who allegedly supplied details of alleged wrongdoings in the forest department while Dharamsot was the minister, according to sources.
The bureau has also detained journalist Kamaljit Singh, who is said to be a close colleague of the Congress leader, according to sources. In April, Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann warned that action will be taken against the former minister.