Punjab top functionary sent to judicial custody (Lead)

May 10th, 2011 - 4:49 pm ICT by IANS  

Bharatiya Janata Party Chandigarh, May 10 (IANS) The Central Bureau of Investigation’s (CBI) special court here Tuesday sent Punjab’s Chief Parliamentary Secretary (CPS) and BJP legislator Raj Khurana and an ex-government official Devinder Singh Bittu to 14-day judicial remand in connection with a Rs.1.5 crore graft case.

Khurana and Bittu, who were arrested May 5, were produced in the court of CBI special judge Ritu Tagore.

The probe agency Tuesday also arrested Bhag Singh, personal secretary of state minister Swarna Ram, for his alleged role in this graft case over a land deal.

He was sent to one-day remand by the court.

CBI Deputy Inspector General Mahesh Aggarwal told IANS that Bhag Singh was arrested after his role in the case came to the notice of the investigators.

The CBI Monday had questioned the state’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) ministers Manoranjan Kalia (industries and local bodies) and Swarna Ram (social welfare and justice) in connection with the case.

Ram had said Monday that he had sent a note regarding the land deal case to the industry minister following Bhag Singh’s advice.

Last week the CBI had raided Khurana’s official residence in Sector 39 here and recovered Rs.15 lakh in cash, cheques for amounts running into millions of rupees and an expensive Porsche car (valued at over Rs.1 crore) from there.

The probe is related to an alleged bribe Khurana and Bittu sought over a land deal near Zirakpur, on the outskirts of Chandigarh. The land belonged to a mechanics association in Punjab.

The money, they allegedly said, was meant for the two ministers.

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