Sadhu Singh Dharamsot: Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann in April had warned action against him (File)
Senior Congress leader and former Punjab minister Sadhu Singh Dharamsot was arrested early this morning on corruption charges, officials said.
The Social Welfare and Forest Minister in the Amarinder Singh government was arrested by the state's Vigilance Bureau from Amloh.
This comes after the arrest of district forest officer Guramanpreet Singh and contractor Harminder Singh Hummy last week, who sources say, reportedly provided details of the alleged wrongdoings in the forest department when Mr Dharamsot was the minister.
The bureau has also arrested journalist Kamaljit Singh who, sources say, is a close associate of the Congress leader.
Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann in April had warned action against the former minister.
Last month, Punjab Health Minister Vijay Singla was sacked from the state cabinet on a corruption charge, with Mr Mann asserting that his government has "zero tolerance" against corruption.
Mr Singla was allegedly demanding a one per cent commission on tenders. Soon after his removal, he was arrested by the anti-corruption branch of the Punjab police.
Eradication of corruption was one of the key promises of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP). The party had bagged 92 of the 117 seats in Punjab, decimating the Congress, the Shiromani Akali Dal-Bahujan Samaj Party combine, and the BJP-Punjab Lok Congress-SAD (Sanyukt) alliance in the 2022 state assembly polls.
