Punjab and Haryana High Court grants bail to Sadhu Singh Dharamsot

Chandigarh, September 5

Nearly three months after he was arrested, the Punjab and Haryana High Court today allowed regular bail plea filed by senior Congress leader and Punjab’s former Forest Minister Sadhu Singh Dharamsot in a case alleging illegal felling of trees. Dharamsot was arrested in the case by the Vigilance Bureau on June 7.

The case, heard at length by Justice Raj Mohan Singh, had brought former Advocate-General, senior advocate and Dharamsot’s counsel APS Deol face to face with the current AG Vinod Ghai. Dharamsot’s stand in the matter was that he had been falsely implicated in the case. Justice Raj Mohan Singh’s order was not yet available

Dharamsot was accused of being a part of organised corruption allegedly pertaining to issuance of permits for cutting of khair trees, transfer of officials, purchases, and issuance of NOCs. A VB spokesperson at the time of his arrest had stated that an FIR was registered under the provisions of the Prevention of Corruption Act, and 120-B of the IPC against a Mohali Divisional Forest Officer and a private contractor for allegedly accepting bribe from a coloniser in lieu of not demolishing a farmhouses developed by his company in the vicinity of New Chandigarh, Mohali.