₹2,000-crore ‘scam’: Ex-minister Ashu in judicial custody
Hindustan TimesThe additional sessions court here on Monday sent former Punjab food and civil supplies and consumer affairs minister Bharat Bhushan Ashu to judicial custody in connection with an alleged ₹2,000-crore foodgrain transportation-linked money-laundering case. Bharat Bhushan Ashu Ashu, who was arrested by the ED on August 1, had been in the central agency’s custody since August 2. In August last year, ED teams seized ₹6 crore and four bank lockers during raids at locations linked to Ashu and other accomplices besides seizing several incriminating documents, digital devices and ₹30 lakh of unaccounted cash from at least 10 locations. On August 16, 2022, the VB registered a case against Ashu, his personal assistant Pankaj Kumar, alias Menu Malhotra, then food and civil supplies deputy director RK Singla, district food and civil supplies controller Rakesh Bhaskar, besides three contractors — Telu Ram, Yashpal, Ajaypal besides others — for committing the ‘fraud’, causing a huge loss to the state exchequer by allegedly committing irregularities in accepting labour, cartage and transportation tenders for grain markets in Ludhiana district.