M A I N   N E W S

One more held in Badal case

Kharar, November 27
The Punjab Vigilance Bureau today arrested yet another accused in the corruption case against former Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal, his wife Surinder Kaur Badal and son Sukhbir Singh Badal, also a Rajya Sabha member, among others.

Chandigarh resident Gurpinder Singh Grewal, a director in a company owned by Mr Sukhbir Badal’s in-laws, was produced in the court of Judicial Magistrate Baljinder Kaur Bhatia, who remanded him in police custody till November 29 on the prosecution’s request.

Mr Grewal, who was earlier arrested in a case of corruption against Akali MLA Jagdeep Singh Nakai and was lodged in Patiala’s Central Jail since November 4, was produced in the court on the basis of a production warrant procured by the Vigilance from the same court on Tuesday. Mr Nakai is on bail granted by the Punjab and Haryana High Court.

The prosecution got Mr Grewal’s on remand on the ground they had to find out as to which Akali leader had got the alleged bribe money paid by a couple for nomination to the Punjab Civil Service (PCS), claiming that the accused had confessed during earlier interrogation that PCS nominees Pritpal Singh and Balraj Kaur had allegedly paid him.

Mr Grewal is the seventh accused in the graft case against the Badals. Besides three Badals, Mr Narottam Dhillon, Mr Jagnandan Singh and Mr Harbans Lal were named accused in the chargesheet filed by the Vigilance in a Ropar court on November 22. Mr Jagnandan Singh and Mr Harbans Lal are in the Patiala jail and Mr Dhillon is on bail. — UNI