The State Vigilance Bureau (VB) on Sunday arrested former Punjab minister Sunder Sham Arora for allegedly offering a bribe of Rs 50 lakh to VB's Assistant Inspector General (AIG) to “clear his name” in an ongoing inquiry against him in a disproportionate assets case. Arora, who was the industries minister in the previous Congress government in Punjab, was produced in the court of a duty magistrate and remanded to three days' police custody. VB chief director Varinder Kumar said that an FIR under Section 8 of Prevention of Corruption Act was registered against the former minister on a statement given by Manmohan Kumar, AIG, VB, Flying Squad, Punjab. He said that AIG Manmohan Kumar alleged in the complaint that Arora had met him on October 14 and offered him Rs 1 crore to clear his name in a vigilance inquiry registered against him. The VB chief said that Arora had offered to pay Rs 50 lakh on October 15 and the balance amount at a later date. Arora has been arrested and Rs 50 lakh has been recovered from him. Further investigation is under progress, the VB chief added. AIG Manmohan Kumar (complainant) said that he knew Arora and the former minister had approached him to clear his name in a vigilance inquiry against him. Arora has been under vigilance scanner for the alleged irregularities in the allotment of industrial plots of the Punjab Small Industries and Export Corporation and the sale of a 32-acre of the commercial plot of JCT Electronics Limited in Mohali to a realty firm when he was the industries minister in the previous government. The AIG said that the VB had called the former minister twice to question him in connection with the scam in the industries department.“The former minister was uncomfortable when he was questioned about the scam. He approached me as he had known me for quite some time. He visited my residence in Zirakpur on October 14 and asked me to help him settle the case. He offered me Rs 1 crore for settling the case. But when I refused, he told me that he is a businessman and knows how to approach a police officer,” the AIG alleged. He said that he informed about it to his senior officers, including VB’s chief director and Punjab Director General of Police (DGP) Gaurav Yadav. The VB chief director ordered to register a bribery case against the accused. Later a trap was laid and the former minister was arrested. Arora was produced in court after his medical examination was conducted at the government hospital. The VB requested the court for a seven-day police remand, but the court granted it for three days.
