Foodgrain transportation scam: ED gets Ashu’s custody for another five days

The additional sessions court here on Wednesday sent former Punjab food and civil supplies and consumer affairs minister Bharat Bhushan Ashu to another five-day Enforcement Directorate’s (ED) custody in an alleged ₹2,000-crore foodgrain transportation-linked money-laundering case.
Ashu, who was arrested by the central agency on August 1, had been in ED’s custody since August 2. He was brought to the court on Wednesday where the ED sought his custody for another seven days. A senior ED official, who did not wish to be named, said that during Ashu’s interrogation, the investigators found new key facts related to his alleged involvement in the whole scam.
“These facts must be investigated thoroughly as the contractors named in the FIR were in direct contact with the former minister. The accused will be called for recording their statements on the basis of Ashu’s investigation so far,” an official said. He added that if required, the accused will be questioned jointly with the former minister.
The court dismissed Ashu’s pleas challenging his arrest and remand.
The ED had initiated a parallel probe into the money trail under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) after the Punjab Vigilance Bureau (VB) registered an FIR on August 16, 2022. In August last year, ED teams seized ₹6 crore and four bank lockers during raids at locations of 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 (DFSC) 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.
An FIR was registered under Sections 420 (cheating), 409 (criminal breach of trust), 467 (forgery of valuable security, etc), 468 (forgery for purpose of cheating), 471 (using as genuine a forged document), 120B (party to a criminal conspiracy to commit an offence) of the IPC and Sections 7 (2), 8, 12 and 13(2) of the Prevention of Corruption Act at the VB police station in Ludhiana.
In the preliminary chargesheet filed by the VB, it was mentioned that the transportation, labour and cartage tenders allotted for the grain lifting process during Ashu’s tenure as the minister were stage-managed.