Chandigarh, December 27
Staying the arrest of Punjab’s former minister Sewa Singh Sekhwan in an alleged corruption case, Mr Justice Viney Mittal of the Punjab and Haryana High Court — sitting during the winter vacations — today issued notice of motion to Punjab’s Advocate-General for February 17.
The former minister was apprehending arrest in a case registered by the Punjab Vigilance Bureau on the allegations of misusing his authority for establishing a Trust in his father’s name at Sekhwan village near Gurdaspur.
According to the prosecution, Mr Sekhwan, Revenue Minister in the SAD-BJP government, was allegedly involved in getting the panchayat land allotted in the Trust’s name. Taking up an earlier petition filed by Mr Sekhwan, the High Court had directed the issuance of a week’s notice in case he was required by the police.
Seeking the grant of anticipatory bail, counsel for the petitioner today submitted that the notice was served on December 17.
Alleging implication on political grounds, counsel argued that the first information report had been registered on the basis of information allegedly provided by sources, there was no complainant in the case.
The Trust, he asserted, was in the name of the former minister’s father — also an MLA. Denying the allegations regarding the embezzlement of funds, he claimed that the land had been donated to the Trust for setting up a hospital following a resolution of the village panchayat.
Mr Sekhwan is not the first minister in the SAD-BJP government to seek the grant of bail after alleging implication on political grounds. Certain other former ministers, including Ranjit Singh Bhrampura, had expressed apprehension that they would be implicated in cases as the present government wanted to tarnish their image due to oblique political reasons. They had added that the government had adopted a revengeful attitude towards its opponents and members of the Akali Dal in order to arrest them in false cases.
