Ahead of bypoll, Punjab Vigilance summons Cong’s Ashu in school land misuse case; wife says ‘AAP’s dirty politics’

The summons come barely two weeks ahead of the June 19 Ludhiana West bypolls, which Ashu is contesting.

The FIR was registered against the “management committee members” of New Senior Secondary School for allegedly misusing 4.71 acre land in Sarabha Nagar, which was allotted to them by Ludhiana Improvement Trust (LIT) for running a charitable school. However, it was allegedly used for commercial purposes and rented out to other parties.

Speaking to The Indian Express, a senior official from vigilance bureau said: “Not just Ashu, but we have summoned at least 25 people to join the probe in the case who were the current or ex-members of school’s management committee. Ashu and his cousin Narinder Sharma Kala were also the members of school’s management committee some years ago.”

The vigilance official added that initially the FIR against school’s management committee members was registered at division number 5 police station of Ludhiana commissionerate but later “the probe was transferred to the vigilance as the involvement of some government officials is also suspected in the scam.”

Reacting to the summons, Ashu’s wife Mamta Ashu said: “Dirty politics is being played out by ruling Aam Aadmi Party (AAP). They are so frustrated and desperate at this point of time that they are summoning us in a case which was registered even before AAP MLA Gurpreet Gogi ji passed away. They are summoning Ashu just to harass him. Why they did not summon us in these five months? Why now?”

The byelection has been necessitated after Gogi died on January 11 this year. Gogi had defeated Ashu in 2022 Punjab assembly polls by nearly 7,000 votes.

The probe into the school land misuse case was initiated last year after AAP’s Rajya Sabha member Sanjeev Arora had written to Ludhiana deputy commissioner alleging that the LIT land was being misused for commercial purposes. The FIR was registered after a probe by a committee constituted by Ludhiana deputy commissioner. Arora is now contesting Ludhiana West bye-election against Ashu on AAP’s ticket.

CM Mann accuses Ashu of being “neck deep in corruption”

Meanwhile, Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann, while addressing campaign meetings in Ludhiana accused Ashu of being “neck deep in corruption”.

Mann said that Ashu was a “highly arrogant man” and was making “false claims of being acquitted in several corruption cases.”

Claiming that Ashu was involved in “multiple corruption cases”, Mann said: “Several cases related to tender scams and transportation irregularities are still ongoing in the court. He had exploited his power for personal gains when he was the minister. We will continue to expose and hold such people accountable who plundered Punjab,” said Mann.

Ashu, a two-time Congress MLA from Ludhiana West (2012 and 2017) and former food and civil supplies minister, was jailed for seven months after he was arrested in August 2022 in an alleged “foodgrain transportation scam” after AAP had stormed to power. However, the Punjab and Haryana High Court quashed both related FIRs registered against him by Punjab vigilance bureau for alleged corruption, calling it “political vendetta”. He was also arrested by Enforcement Directorate (ED) in August 2024 in the money laundering probe related to the foodgrain scam and bailed out after five months in December last year.

In his recent poll affidavit, Ashu has declared two pending cases against him: one of 2024 when he along with other Congress leaders had staged protest outside MC office against AAP government, and the other is the money laundering prosecution complaint pending with the ED office, Jalandhar.