Ludhiana28 minutes ago
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Vigilance officers measuring Meenu Malhotra’s kothi.
Vigilance has started tightening the noose on PA Meenu Malhotra of former minister Bharat Bhushan Ashu, arrested in the transportation tender scam in Punjab. Pankaj Meenu reached Malhotra’s property today with Vigilance’s Axion team from Chandigarh to see and measure it. Meenu Malhotra is absconding for many days. The raid is going on continuously in search of him.
On Wednesday, Pankaj Meenu Malhotra’s new model town was built in 200 yards and first metered another property of his and after that, the full blueprint of how much was spent on the construction going on in it, was taken. Axion and SDO level officers were present in this technical team of Vigilance.
A few days ago, Pankaj Meenu Malhotra’s house was raided at Jawahar Nagar Camp and different hotels etc. It is said that Meenu Malhotra was preparing his own living room here and he had also bought the house adjacent to it some time back.
It is said that he has bought this adjoining house in the name of his sister. This team will also measure them tomorrow to prepare the blueprint of other properties and will give its report to Ludhiana Vigilance. Today only two properties have been measured, tomorrow 4 to 5 remaining properties will also be measured so that it can be known that how much money he has spent on the rooms.
Vigilance can present this entire report as part of its investigation tomorrow in the court. If during this time Meenu Malhotra or his entire family is unable to provide any documents related to these properties, then by making these properties as Benami, they can also pludge in the case.
It is worth mentioning that 7 people have been named in this scam so far, out of which only two people, contractor Teluram and former minister Ashu are arrested. At the same time, 5 accused in which Meenu Malhotra, Inderjit Indi, Rakesh Singla, Jagroop Singh, Sandeep Bhatia are absconding.
Main role of menu
According to the Vigilance investigation, the then Cabinet Minister Bharat Bhushan Ashu’s PA Meenu Malhotra was the most important role in this scam. From finding the traders for the tender to fixing the rate, it was Meenu who used to do all the work. After the deal was finalized, the menu would also do the transaction of money.
It was his job to transfer the share from the officers to the leaders. Meenu, who spent more than half of his life in Jawahar Nagar Camp, had been building a kothi in New Model Town for a few months. The record of this Kothi is being checked by Vigilance.
Meanwhile, Bharat Bhushan Ashu is on 4-day remand. On the other hand, the senior leadership of Punjab Congress has been raising the same tone again and again that Meenu Malhotra is not Ashu’s PA.
Teluram bought 20 acres of land
During the vigilance investigation, it was found that Teluram, the main accused in this tender scam related to loading-unloading of wheat, bought about 20 acres of land some time back. Meenu Malhotra also made many properties. Records related to this are being collected. Documents of Rakesh Kumar Singla’s posting and his property are also being collected.
Car-bike numbers instead of trucks
According to the Vigilance Bureau’s investigation so far, Teluram has received around Rs 25 crore. The registration numbers of cars, scooters, bikes etc. were given in the list of vehicles submitted for taking tender. The District Tender Committee had to examine the list of vehicles carrying wheat, but the members of the committee also allotted the tender in connivance. The numbers of scooter-cars were also written in the gate pass. Government officials also paid the contractors on the basis of these gate passes. Further investigation is going on in this regard.