The Vigilance Bureau (VB) has arrested former Punjab Deputy Chief Minister O. P. Soni for allegedly amassing wealth beyond his known sources of income.
According to an official statement, the VB on Sunday arrested Mr. Soni for amassing assets disproportionate to his known sources of income during the period of 2016 to 2022.
A First Information Report (FIR) under Sections 13 (1) (b) and 13 (2) of the Prevention of Corruption Act has been registered against him, following investigations in the inquiry, which was ordered on October 10, 2022.
The statement added that during the check period from April 1, 2016 to March 31, 2022, the income of the former Deputy CM and his family was ₹4,52,18,771 while the expenditure was ₹12,48,42,692, which was ₹7,96,23,921 or 176.08% more than his known sources of income.
The investigation in this case is underway.
Since the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government came to power in Punjab in March 2022, so far, at least 15 key Congress leaders, including a former Chief Minister, a former Deputy Chief Minister, Ministers and MLAs in the previous Congress government have come under the scanner of the VB over cases of alleged disproportionate assets and corruption.
Congress’s State leadership has been strongly accusing the ruling AAP government in Punjab of “misusing the police and investigation agencies” to “target” Congress leaders. Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann has been dismissing the charges of any “political vendetta”, and has been repeatedly saying that the State government has waged a war against corruption.
