Arrested ex-Punjab deputy CM O P Soni admitted to hospital

Amritsar, July 10

Congress leader O P Soni, who has been arrested by the Punjab Vigilance Bureau for allegedly amassing assets disproportionate to his known sources of income, was on Monday admitted to a hospital here.

After his arrest on Sunday, the Vigilance Bureau on Monday produced the former deputy chief minister before a court here which remanded Soni to two days police remand, said officials.

Later, he was taken to Civil hospital Amritsar where his pulse was found irregular and later on he was shifted to a private hospital for a thorough checkup, party leaders said.

Many senior Congress leaders, including Punjab Congress chief Amrinder Singh Raja Warring, Leader of Opposition Partap Singh Bajawa, besides local leadership of the party visited Soni in the hospital.

In a tweet, Warring hit out at ruling AAP over Soni’s arrest.

“OP Soni ji’s arrest has exposed the malafide intentions of the power-smitten @AamAadmiParty. AAP is using government machinery against opposition party leaders to silence them and to deliberately divert public attention from its failures, the real issues of the state & the cases against its tainted leaders including ‘Kattar Imaandar’ Manish Sisodia,” said Warring.

Soni was on Sunday arrested for allegedly amassing assets disproportionate to his known sources of income during 2016 to 2022.

An FIR was registered on Sunday under the provisions of the Prevention of Corruption Act at Vigilance Bureau Police Station, Amritsar Range against Soni following investigations in the inquiry, which was ordered on October 10, 2022, a VB spokesperson said.

The investigation is a result of an anonymous complaint the bureau had received accusing Soni of amassing properties beyond his known sources of income.