The Punjab Vigilance Bureau on Monday, 22 August, arrested Congress leader Bharat Bhushan Ashu over alleged irregularities in granting the contracts of foodgrain transportation.
The former Punjab minister was arrested from Ludhiana, news agency PTI reported citing official sources.
As per news agency ANI, he was at a local salon, close to Congress MP Ravneet Singh Bittu's residence, at the time of his arrest.
Last week, a case was registered against the former minister of food, civil supplies and consumer affairs for allotting transportation tenders on fake registration numbers of vehicles.
An inquiry is underway and more officials of the food and civil supplies department are under the scanner, an official statement reportedly stated.
Earlier today, Punjab Congress leaders censured the vigilance bureau's probe, terming it the government's 'political vendetta'.
Further, Congress workers staged a protest outside the Vigilance Bureau office in Ludhiana.
"While in Delhi they were crying persecution and victimhood, in Punjab, they are resorting to a worse type of vendetta against their political opponents," Punjab Congress chief Amrinder Singh Raja Warring was quoted as saying.
(With inputs from PTI, ANI and NDTV.)
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