Vijay singla Graft case: Voice sample did not match: Mann after clean chit to former minister

Mann was responding to a question about why Singla was given a clean chit by the Punjab Vigilance Bureau when he was dropped from his Cabinet, following allegations of seeking a bribe, with his voice being recorded in a sting operation.

On May 24, 2022, Mann had sacked health minister Singla, following the allegation that he had demanded “a one per cent cut in tenders’ allotment and purchase of goods related to the department”.

Based on video evidence, Mann had sacked Singla and stated that he had directed the police to register a case against him. The CM had said Singla confessed to his crime.

The complaint was made by a superintending engineer posted on deputation with the Punjab Health Systems Corporation (PHSC), Rajinder Singh, who had conducted the sting operation on the minister and his OSD Pardeep Kumar.

Mohali police had registered a case against Singla and his OSD under sections 7 and 8 of the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988. The FIR had named Singla as the health minister of Punjab. Later, both were arrested.

In the video message, Mann had said, “Through his sacking, I also wanted to convey the message of zero tolerance for corruption to everyone, including AAP’s own people.”

The Vigilance Bureau’s closure report last month came as a huge embarrassment to the state government. Besides, it also gave opposition parties the much-needed ammo to fire fresh salvos at the AAP government.

While sacking him, Mann had said, “A case was brought to my notice that a minister in my Cabinet was seeking one per cent commission for each tender and purchase related to his department. Only I knew about this case; neither the media nor the opposition knew it. Had I wanted, then I would have covered it up. Had I done so, I would not have failed my conscience, but also those lakhs of people who trusted in me. I am taking strong action against him. I am sacking him from my Cabinet and directing the police to take action against him. He has confessed to this crime.”

“As you all know, we are an honest government. We will not tolerate corruption of even Re 1. Whenever I visit people in villages, towns and cities, I see hope in their eyes. I saw they had hope that there would be someone who would pull them out of corruption. When I was to be announced the chief ministerial face, AAP’s revolutionary chief Arvind Kejriwal had said that he would not tolerate bribery and corruption, and I had promised him that we would run this government the same way. I assured him that we would not spare anyone involved in corruption,” Mann had added.

The CM had said that the AAP government had “zero tolerance for corruption”.

“This has happened for the second time in the country. In 2015, Kejriwal had sacked his food and civil supplies minister after a video of him seeking a bribe was shown to him. I want to tell everyone that I would not tolerate corruption for even Re 1. So, straighten yourself. We had taken an oath at martyr Bhagat Singh’s Khatkar Kalan village, we had promised that we would run a corruption-free government. This is a historic decision of the AAP.”

During the party’s campaign in different states, Mann had raised Singla’s corruption case and his government’s stand of zero tolerance for corruption, even against ministers.