HC stays Brij Bhupinder8217;s arrest

The matter had come up before Justice Balwant Rai after the plea for grant of anticipatory bail had been declined by the Sessions Judge, Ropar, on grounds of misconduct and misuse of public funds which was held to amount to misappropriation.

The FIR was registered on March 4, on the allegations that during the tenure of the petitioner as Minister, Rural Development and Panchayats, Punjab, during the Congress government in the state, funds of about Rs 15 crore were allocated by the Central Government under the Jawahar Rozgar Yojna for the year 1994-95. Instead of the amount being spent in that year, the funds were disbursed in 1995-96 and that too not for purposes for which these had been allocated.

The FIR alleges that funds were not allocated to the specified districts for building homes for Harijans, for schools and village peripheral roads and were instead transferred to other districts in connivance with the officials and were siphoned off. Thus, it has been alleged that Brij Bhupinder not only misused his official position but also misappropriated government funds in violation of the rules.

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