VB arrests Punjab AAP legislator Raman Arora for graft
The Vigilance Bureau (VB) on Friday arrested the ruling AAP’s Jalandhar Central MLA, Raman Arora, on charges of corruption.
The MLA was taken into custody after a seven-hour raid at his house in the Ashok Nagar locality here.
The arrest has been made under the same FIR under which the VB had arrested Assistant Town Planner (ATP) of the Municipal Corporation Sukhdev Vashisht about a week ago.
The allegation against Arora is that he used Vashisht to send fake notices to people in his constituency for violating construction norms. He then allegedly sought money from them in lieu of getting the notices withdrawn.
Arora was reportedly offering prayers at a temple close to his house this morning when VB sleuths reached there and caught hold of him.
He was brought home at 9 am and a raid was conducted at his place. SSP (VB), Ludhiana, Jagatpreet Singh, SSP (VB), Jalandhar, Harpreet Mander and DSP (VB) Niranjan Singh conducted the raid as the local police kept guard outside his place. Since Mander was under suspension and the charge of the SSP, Jalandhar VB, was with Jagatpreet Singh when Vashisht was arrested, Arora’s case too is being currently handled by the Ludhiana (VB) SSP.
VB officials had reportedly taken a cash counting machine to Arora’s residence. The officials were also seen making an inventory of the items being confiscated from his place, including cars. However, no official information on the recovery made from his house was released till this evening.
VB teams took him away from his house in their vehicle at 4 pm. There are reports that the VB could bring in more people under its radar, including Arora’s family members and his private staff, most of whom are learnt to be absconding since the VB action this morning.
For the past one week, as allegations were being levelled against Arora for his “involvement”, he had been denying any role in the alleged nexus.
He had maintained, “Vashisht was the ATP for building branch sectors falling in Jalandhar Central a year ago. He had got transferred to Pathankot and was now working in sectors falling in Jalandhar West. There is no reason why I should be involved with him.”
The action against Arora was being expected for the past nearly 10 days when his entire security had been withdrawn on the orders of the state government.
Arora had 14 personnel in his security, including commandos, against the usual entitlement of four in an MLA’s cover.
Arora had since then gone to Delhi and Chandigarh seeking time from leaders for putting across his point of view but got no refuge. Arora had been levelling allegations against a Jalandhar-based AAP leader for getting false complaints lodged against him for vested interests.
