Former Punjab minister Sunder Sham Arora arrested for offering 'bribe' to VB officer

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, October 16

Former Punjab Industries Minister Sunder Sham Arora, who joined the BJP in June, was arrested by the State Vigilance Bureau for allegedly offering a bribe to its AIG-rank officer for “favourably settling” an inquiry against him.

Arora, who was arrested in Zirakpur on Saturday night when he tried to “hand over” the cash to AIG Manmohan Kumar, was sent to three-day police custody by a Mohali court. After Sadhu Singh Dharamsot and Bharat Bhushan Ashu, Arora is the third former minister to be arrested by the AAP government on corruption charges.

The arrest comes ahead of the Assembly elections in Himachal where AAP is pitted against the BJP and the Congress. In the past few weeks, Arora was twice summoned by the VB in connection with a “disproportionate” assets case and “irregularities” in the allotment of industrial plots during his tenure as minister. Varinder Kumar, Chief Director, Vigilance Bureau, said an FIR under Section 8 of the Prevention of Corruption Act had been registered against the former minister on a complaint of AIG Manmohan Kumar, who alleged that Arora met him on October 14 and offered him Rs 1 crore as bribe.

He said Arora offered to pay Rs 50 lakh the following day (October 15) and the rest of the amount at a later date. “Arora was arrested and the cash recovered from him,” he added.

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