The Punjab vigilance bureau (VB) Tuesday arrested former Faridkot MLA, Kushaldeep Singh Dhillon, for allegedly amassing wealth other than his known sources of income. He is the fifth former MLA of the Congress to have been arrested by the vigilance bureau in just over 14 months of the Aam Aadmi Party government. A vigilance spokesperson said that a case of graft has already been registered against Kushaldeep Dhillon, alias Kiki Dhillon, along with two others — Gursewak Singh, a resident of Nanaksar, Faridkot, and Rajwinder Singh, a resident of Dhanna Shaheed village, Ferozepur district. The case, he said, was lodged only after a probe by the vigilance bureau. He further informed that in order to assess all the moveable and immovable assets of the MLA, a check period of five years from April 1, 2017, to March 31, 2022, had been set by the bureau. During the course of their probe, investigators found that Dhillon had created wealth more than all his known sources of income and purchased properties in the names of other persons in Mumara village in Faridkot. The spokesperson said that Dhillon's expenditures were found to be about 245 per cent more than his known sources of income. The spokesperson further informed that a case in this regard had been lodged under section 13(1), 13(2) of Prevention of Corruption Act and Section 120-B of the IPC against the accused at the VB police station, Ferozepur range. "The former MLA has been arrested in this case and would be produced before a court on Wednesday. Further investigation in this case is under progress," the spokesperson added. Prior to his arrest, Dhillon had been questioned thrice by the bureau, which had started an investigation against the former MLA after receiving a complaint. Dhillon had earlier said the allegations against him were false and politically motivated and claimed the ruling AAP was trying to suppress Congress leaders through such cases. Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann had previously said that it has a zero tolerance policy towards corruption and will proceed as per law against anyone who indulges in any wrongdoing. In a little over an year that AAP stormed to power in state, the vigilance bureau launched probe against Congress's at least 15 former legislators and one sitting MLA. The 16 include former chief minister Charanjit Singh Channi, former deputy CM OP Soni, and seven former cabinet ministers. Of the 16, a two former MLAs, including Dhillon, and three former ministers, including Bharat Bhushan Ashu, Sham Sunder Arora, and Sadhu Singh Dharamsot, were arrested.
