- Punjab Vigilance Bureau has arrested former Punjab Deputy Chief Minister and Congress leader O.P. Soni for allegedly amassing wealth beyond his known sources of income.
- Soni is the fourth former Congress minister to be arrested.
- Since the AAP government came to power in Punjab at least 15 key Congress leaders, including the former Chief Minister, have come under the scanner of the vigilance bureau for cases of alleged disproportionate assets and corruption.
- Congress’s State leadership has been strongly accusing the ruling AAP government in Punjab of “misusing the police and investigation agencies” to “target” the Congress leaders.
- Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann has been repeatedly saying that the State government has waged a war against corruption.
Punjab Vigilance Bureau has arrested former Punjab Deputy Chief Minister and Congress leader O.P. Soni for allegedly amassing wealth beyond his known sources of income. According to an official statement, the bureau on Sunday (July 9) arrested Mr. Soni for amassing assets disproportionately to his known sources of income during the period of 2016 to 2022.
The statement added that during the check period from April 1, 2016, to March 31, 2022, the income of the former Deputy CM and his family was ₹4,52,18,771 while the expenditure was ₹12,48,42,692, which was ₹7,96,23,921 or 176.08% more than his known sources of income.
Punjab Government had received a complaint alleging that the former deputy chief minister had accumulated movable and immovable assets beyond his known sources of income. Soni is the fourth former Congress minister to be arrested. The VB has already arrested former ministers Sadhu Singh Dharamsot, Bharat Bhushan Ashu, and Sunder Sham Arora.
Earlier in February, the VB arrested former forest minister Sadhu Singh Dharamsot for amassing assets disproportionate to his known sources of income. In October 2022, former Congress minister Sham Sundar Arora was arrested while allegedly offering ₹50 lacks to VB officials to settle his alleged disproportionate assets case.
Since the Aam Aadmi Party government came to power in Punjab last year in March, so far at least 15 key Congress leaders, which includes former Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi, other Ministers, and MLAs in the previous Congress government have come under the scanner of the vigilance bureau for cases of alleged disproportionate assets and corruption. Soni is among them who are facing VB probes for corruption.
Congress’s State leadership has been strongly accusing the ruling AAP government in Punjab of “misusing the police and investigation agencies” to “target” the Congress leaders. Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann has been dismissing the charges of any ‘political vendetta’. He has been repeatedly saying that the State government has waged a war against corruption.
(With inputs from agencies)
