Chandigarh: The bail plea of former Punjab cabinet minister Bharat Bhushan Ashu, arrested in the transportation tender scam, has been rejected on Friday.
The vigilance had arrested Ashu on August 22 and he was sent to Patiala jail on August 31.
Following this, Ashu filed a bail plea in the court on September 7 and the court fixed September 9 as the next date.
At present, the hands of vigilance in the transportation tender scam seem to be empty so far as out of 7 accused, vigilance has been able to catch only two people, including contractors Teluram and Bharat Bhushan Ashu.
Officials said that the where the rest of the accused are hiding or are in the shelter of a politician is a matter of investigation. Of the seven accused, five — Jagroop Singh, Sandeep Bhatia, Rakesh Singla, Meenu Malhotra and Inderjeet Indi — have been absconding for 22 days. Vigilance has not been able to find out where they are hiding. At the same time, 2 files related to the case are missing.
Bharat Bhushan Ashu, along with his associates, has been accused of a Rs 2,000 crore transportation tender scam. Tenders were obtained by giving numbers of cars, two-wheelers and crores were embezzled.
Ashu was accused by small contractors that the tender for labour and transportation in Punjab’s mandis was rigged and close aide of former minister were benefited by ignoring small contractors.