Ex-Punjab minister Sangat Singh Gilzian's nephew arrested in corruption case

CHANDIGARH: The Punjab Vigilance Bureau on Wednesday said it has arrested the nephew of former minister and Congress leader Sangat Singh Gilzian in a corruption case.

Daljit Singh Gilzian, the nephew of the former Punjab forest minister, was allegedly acting as a middleman to collect money from contractors for transfers of department officials, purchasing tree guards, issuance of permits for felling trees and NOCs for the construction of slip roads for commercial establishments near highways, and other projects in the department, said a spokesperson of the forest department.

Sangat Singh Gilzian was named in the FIR for his alleged involvement in corruption pertaining to issuance of permits for felling trees and accepting bribe for the purchase of tree guards.

The Vigilance Bureau registered a case last month in which former forest minister Sadhu Singh Dharamsot was also named.

Dharamsot was subsequently arrested on corruption charges.

Dharamsot was the social welfare and forest minister in the Amarinder Singh-led government, while Gilzian was the forest minister in the Charanjit Singh Channi-led government.

A forest contractor, Harmohinder Singh Hammi, was arrested earlier.

He had confessed that he had given Rs 5 lakh to Sangat Singh Gilzian through one Kulwinder Singh for the issuance of a permit for felling trees in Nada village in Mohali district, the spokesperson said.

The bureau said documentary and technical evidence gathered by it shows that Daljit Singh Gilzian was directly involved in government and non-government affairs in the department on behalf of Sangat Singh Gilzian when the latter was the minister.

Daljit used to issue instructions directly to the officials of the department for his personal interests, it alleged.