Punjab: Congress Bhoa ex-MLA Joginder Pal held for illegal mining

Pathankot, June 17

The Punjab Police today arrested former Congress MLA from Bhoa Joginder Pal in an illegal mining case.

Confirming the arrest, Senior Superintendent of Police Arun Saini said, “Joginder Pal has been taken into custody and further investigations are on.” An FIR has been registered under Section 21 of the Mines and Minerals Act at the Taragarh police station.

Pal had remained the Bhoa (reserved) MLA from 2017 to 2022 and was defeated by Cabinet minister Lal Chand Kataruchak by 1,200 votes in the recent Vidhan Sabha poll.

A fortnight ago, the police had, following a complaint, raided Krishna crushers at mining-rich Kirrian village. The police had confiscated three truckloads of mining material, a crane and a tractor-trailer. The FIR is learnt to be a fallout of that raid as Pal’s family is a partner in Krishna crusher unit. He will be spending the night in police station before being produced in court tomorrow.