Vigilance Bureau (VB) officials today began questioning Shiromani Akali Dal chief and former Punjab chief minister Parkash Singh Badal in connection with corruption cases against him and his family members, including his wife Surinder Kaur and son MP Sukhbir Singh Badal.About 50 VB officers led by DIG S. Chattopadhyay arrived at Badal’s residence in Chandigarh and began the investigations while a large number of Akali workers assembled outside raising anti-government slogans. Talking to mediapersons, shortly before the arrival of the officials, Badal said he had assured the VB of his cooperation even though he had no faith in their investigation. ‘‘It seems Punjab CM Capt Amarinder Singh has already delivered the verdict that I will not be allowed to go scot free,’’ he said. Later, he said the bulk of the properties of Rs 3,500 crore attributed to him was merely ‘‘false propaganda’’ as the VB questioned him with regard to a mere 10 per cent of those alleged assets.Meanwhile, Singh claimed he knew ‘‘where the Badals have stashed their money.’’ Seeking to rebut charges that raids at properties of Badal and his son had yielded nothing incriminating against them, he said: ‘‘We had raided 29 properties not to look for the money but to evaluate the family’s assets. Obviously, we knew that he (Badal) is not such a fool to keep his money with him.’’The Chief Minister said he was being considerate by sending his sleuths to Badal’s residence for the questioning. ‘‘These are courtesies we are extending to the former chief minister and his wife.’’He was, however, unsparing when it came to Sukhbir, repeatedly referring to him as ‘‘that little fellow’’. He said Sukhbir’s status as an MP was no excuse for him to not respond to VB summons.Addressing the media after the questioning, VB Chief Director A.P. Pandey said: ‘‘We have found what we were looking for. Wherever there are grey areas, we are asking more questions.’’He said the questioning was not complete and the VB would get back to the Badals to seek clarifications, details and documents with regard to the questions asked today. The Badals had sought this much time to furnish these documents on properties and their expenditure, he said.
