Jalandhar: No relief for MLA Raman Arora’s son

The court of Special Judge Jaswinder Singh on Friday rejected the bail application of Rajan Arora, son of Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) MLA Raman Arora, in the alleged case of corruption lodged by the Punjab Vigilance Bureau.

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Like the MLA, his son too has been booked by the VB under FIR No. 23 lodged on May 14 under Section 7, 7(a) of Prevention of Corruption Act, 2018 and section 61(2) of BNS. He had been evading arrest since the MLA had been taken into custody.

The bail plea was presented through Rajan’s lawyers Darshan Singh Dyal and Naveen Chadha. Rishi Bhardwaj, Additional Public Prosecutor and DSP Naranjan Singh, Vigilance Bureau, represented the state.

The VB submitted in the court that an unaccounted transaction of Rs 60 lakh dated March 21, 2024 had been found in the bank account of Rajan. The VB has also reported that a relative of Aroras, who is running the firm M/s Jagdambey Fashion, had a turnover of Rs 39 lakh in 2021-2022 before the accused Raman Arora became an MLA. But after the accused became an MLA, the turnover of the firm jumped to a whopping Rs 10 crore in 2022-2023 and to Rs 12 crore in the year 2023-2024.

The VB further submitted that as per the disclosure statements of the other arrested accused, including Sukhdev Vashisht, Assistant Town Planner of Municipal Corporation, Jalandhar, MLA Raman Arora, his son Rajan Arora and PA Shivam Madaan were looking after the work of MC Jalandhar. “Rajan used to strike the deals with the building owners for obtaining bribe from them. All the accused in connivance with one another had been running a bribe racket through the office of MC,” the VB reported in the court.It further submitted, “Vashisht had issued 222 notices to the building owners during his tenure from 2022 to 2024 in MC, Jalandhar. Out of the above 222 notices, the record of only 58 notices has been recovered. Similarly, Vashisht issued 81 notices to the building owners during his three-month tenure from February 20 this year to May 14, the day he had been arrested. No record pertaining to these notices has been recovered till date. The accused has either destroyed the above record or the same has been kept by him with some co-accused. Moreover, five files, wherein notices were issued by accused Sukhdev Vashisht, have been recovered from the house search of MLA Raman Arora. Eleven blank notices have also been recovered during the house search.”

The Additional PP and DSP, VB, said that the allegations contained in the FIR were of a serious nature. During a search of the house of the accused Sukhdev Vashist, gold weighing 1.3 kg and 84.2 kg silver were recovered. ATP Sukhdev Vashisht had been working as conduit of co-accused, the MLA, they said.

The court ordered, “Custodial interrogation of the petitioner will be required for further investigation of the present case and it is not a fit case where the concession of pre-arrest bail should be granted to the petitioner. Hence, the bail application is dismissed.” The same order was passed in the bail plea of Vashisht too, who is in judicial custody.