SNE NETWORK.LUDHIANA/CHANDIGARH.
Punjab government has suspended SSP who sent notice for questioning to Congress candidate and former cabinet minister Bharat Bhushan Ashu in Ludhiana West by-election. Now Ashu will not have to appear before Vigilance. Sources have revealed that direct talks were going on between SSP and Bharat Bhushan Ashu.
Old relations between the two have also come to light. Ashu was the one who first got this officer appointed to the post of DSP. Just a few days before the announcement of elections, a secret meeting took place between SSP and Ashu. At the same time, without any official order, summons were sent overnight. On this pretext, Ashu was trying to gain sympathy. At the same time, Congress President Amarinder Singh Raja Vading will hold a press conference in the afternoon today in this matter.
Earlier, Ashu has been summoned in connection with the Rs 2,400 crore scam related to the misuse of school land in Sarabha Nagar. Today, the leadership also held a press conference in this matter at 3 pm in the Congress election office located at Ferozepur Road. In the summons issued by DSP Vinod Kumar on June 4, Ashu has been directed to appear for questioning today on Friday (June 6).
Regarding this, former Deputy CM of Punjab and Gurdaspur MP Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa said that by summoning our Congress candidate Ashu, Bhagwant Mann has made it public that his party is losing. Now he is ready to play every cheap trick to win. He said that Mann sahab, your panic is going beyond the scope of democracy. Never mind, Punjabis are watching everything. Very soon we will teach you a lesson of democracy.
The case dates back to January 8, 2025, when an FIR was registered at Police Station Division No. 5 under sections 420 (cheating), 120-B (criminal conspiracy), 467, 468, 471 (forgery) and 409 (criminal breach of trust) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).
The case revolves around 4.7 acres of land allotted by the Ludhiana Improvement Trust (LIT) decades ago to run the new senior secondary school in Sarabha Nagar. The land was given at a concessional rate for educational purposes only. However, investigations revealed that parts of this land were being illegally used for commercial activities. With several private playway schools and businesses operating on the premises, the school management was allegedly charging hefty rent, a serious violation involving financial irregularities estimated at Rs 2,400 crore.
The police had already registered an FIR against the school on January 8 this year following a complaint filed by the chairman of the Ludhiana Improvement Trust (LIT). Following his complaint, the case was handed over to the Vigilance Bureau after alleged financial irregularities surfaced during the investigation.
Ashu, who was the minister of food, civil supplies and consumer affairs during the previous Congress government in the state, was embroiled in the Rs 2,000 crore foodgrain transportation tender scam of 2022. He was accused of awarding contracts to fraudulent contractors who submitted fake vehicle registrations, inflating transportation numbers and misusing public funds. He was arrested in August 2022.
In December 2024, the Punjab and Haryana High Court quashed both the criminal cases registered against Ashu. One FIR was registered by the Vigilance Bureau in Ludhiana on August 16, 2022, while the second FIR was registered by the Vigilance Bureau in Jalandhar on September 22, 2022.