Two-day police remand for Punjab ex-Dy CM OP Soni in DA case

PK Jaiswar

Amritsar, July 10

Former Deputy Chief Minister OP Soni was produced in a local court of Chief Judicial Magistrate amid tight security on Monday which sent him to two-day police remand.

He was arrested from Chandigarh by the Vigilance yesterday for allegedly amassing assets disproportionate to his known sources of income following eight-month-long probe. He would now be produced in the court on July 12. The Vigilance probed his assets from 2016 to 2022.

After the hearing, he was admitted in a private hospital as he complained of uneasiness as his heart beat and blood pressure had shot up. Doctors were keeping tabs on his health conditions.

SSP, Vigilance, Varinder Singh said a complaint was filed with the department against disproportionate assets case against Soni in October last year. Following the investigations, the Vigilance registered a case under Sections 13 (1) (b) and 13 (2) of the Prevention of Corruption Act against him.

The Vigilance had analysed his sources of income and his expenditure. According to the Vigilance, Soni and his family had an income of Rs 4.52 crore while the expenditure was Rs 12.48 crore, which was 176 per cent (Rs 7.96 crore) more than his known sources of income. He had amassed properties in the name of his wife Suman Soni and son Raghav Soni.

A senior official pointed out that theamount was likely to increase during the course of investigation as the department was still awaiting certain evaluation reports of his assets. The Vigilance also got a tip-off of certain properties but these were yet to be verified.

Meanwhile, Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee president Amrinder Singh Raja Warring along with Leader of the Opposition Partap Singh Bajwa met Soni at the hospital. They also met his family members in his residence later on.

Speaking to the media, Warring termed the registration of an FIR against Soni as part of vendetta politics unleashed by the government. “Only the Congress has been singled out and targeted. Nevertheless, the party was not afraid of the government and will come clean by fighting these cases legally,” he said.

Earlier, the Vigilance had arrested Congress leaders Sadhu Singh Dharamsot, Bharat Bhushan Ashu and Sunder Sham Arora under similar charges.