The Enforcement Directorate on Thursday arrested former Punjab minister and Congress party leader Bharat Bhushan Ashu for his alleged involvement in a money-laundering case related to a tender scam. He was taken into custody after day-long questioning at the zonal office of the federal agency in Jalandhar, Punjab.
In August 2023, the 35-year-old leader's premises were raided by the ED. Former chairman of the Ludhiana Imorovement Trust, Raman Balasubramanium was also among others, whose residence was raided by the central agency last year.
As per media reports, ED had raided a total of 20 premises in Ludhiana and Naanshahr districts in connection with the illegal sale of plots under LIT, and the multi-crore food transportation and labour cartage tenders scame.
The money-laundering investigation was started after an FIR by Punjab Vigilance Bureau pertaining to the state government's transportation and labour cartage policy of 2021. Besides this, several complaints in connection with the Ludhiana Improvement Trust scam involving allotment of plots to bogus persons were also lodged, leading to the money-laundering probe.
ED had alleged that the tenders were allotted to those contractors who approached the Ashu through Rakesh Kumar Singla, chairman of CVC, Food and Civil Supplies.
In March 2023, Ashu was granted bail after he was arrested on the allegations of receiving bribe through his conduits for compromising tender for food procurement and transportation,its quality, and conditions.
He was in jail since August 2022, after he was arrested on the basis of two separate FIRs filed against him for cheating and corruption by Vigilance Bureau in 2022. He had moved High court, seeking bail in both the cases.
"The petitioner has been in custody since August 22, 2022, as per paragraph 6 of the bail petition. Given this and other factors peculiar to this case, there would be no justifiability for further pre-trial incarceration at this stage, subject to the compliance of terms and conditions mentioned in this order,” observed Justice Anoop Chitkara, as he granted bail to Ashu.
The Congress leader is a former minister of food and civil supplies in the Punjab government. He is also a two-time former MLA from Ludhiana West.