Former Punjab forest minister Sadhu Singh Dharamsot arrested on graft charges

CHANDIGARH: Former Punjab cabinet minister and senior Congress leader Sadhu Singh Dharamsot has been arrested by the Punjab Vigilance Bureau under the Prevention of Corruption Act (PCA).

Sources said that Dharamsot was arrested early today morning, along with a journalist Kamaljit Singh, who works with a Punjabi daily and was allegedly working as his aid. The Vigilance Bureau arrested both Dharamsot and Singh from Amloh.

Dharamsot was the Social Welfare and Forest Minister in the Cabinet of former Punjab chief minister Captain Amarinder Singh. 

A few days back Divisional Forest Officer (DFO) of Mohali, Gurnampreet Singh, and a contractor Harminder Singh alias Hummi were arrested by the Bureau. They allegedly paid bribes to Dharamsot and also told the Bureau officials of Dharamsot's wrongdoings in the forest department. Dharamsot reportedly had links with the arrested forest officials and the bureau, in its investigation, collected proof against him.

A Vigilance Bureau official claimed that Harminder Singh was paying bribes to Dharamsot via Kamaljeet. He also allegedly had a hand in the illegal felling of over 25,000 trees and has been accused of paying Rs 500 per tree by contractors for axing trees for development projects, along with taking 'money for transfers'. There is evidence of his involvement in corruption in the forest and social welfare departments.

Dharamsot was earlier accused of embezzling funds under the SC Post-Matric Scholarship Scheme. A senior IAS officer Kirpa Shankar Saroj on August 24, 2020, had given a report to the then Chief Secretary about the scam amounting to Rs 55.71 crore. But the then government gave him a "clean chit".