Congress' Punjab chief Warring condemns Ashu's arrest by ED

Jalandhar (Punjab), Aug 2 (PTI) The Congress' Punjab unit chief Amrinder Singh Raja Warring on Friday condemned the arrest of former minister and his party colleague Bharat Bhushan Ashu in a tender "scam"-linked money-laundering case.
    Ashu was on Friday sent to Enforcement Directorate (ED) remand for five days after being produced in a local court.
    A former food and civil supplies minister and the working president of the Congress in Punjab, Ashu was taken into custody on Thursday following a day-long questioning at the ED's zonal office in Jalandhar.
    The money-laundering investigation stems from a Punjab Vigilance Bureau FIR registered in connection with an alleged scam related to the allotment of tenders for foodgrain transportation on fake registration numbers of vehicles during the Congress regime.
    Ashu was arrested by the bureau in August 2022.
    Reacting to the ED action, Ludhiana MP Warring said in a post on X, "We strongly condemn the arrest of Ashu by the ED. We stand by him. This vendetta politics cannot stop us from fighting for truth and justice."
    Ashu represented Ludhiana (West) in the Punjab Assembly.
    Congress MLA Sukhpal Singh Khaira also condemned the arrest.
    "Although investigative agencies can probe and arrest anyone, the case of the ED arresting Bharat Bhushan Ashu, an ex-minister @INCPunjab, is a double jeopardy according to law!" he said in a post on X.
    "He was earlier arrested by the vigilance bureau of @BhagwantMann and spent seven months in jail and the ED arrest is also for the same crime, if committed! It means he's being punished twice for the same offence!" he added.
    The ED raided the premises of Ashu, Raman Balasubramanium, a former chairman of the Ludhiana Improvement Trust, and some others in August 2023.
    "Through this favouritism, the allottee contractors got undue advantages, causing loss to the government exchequer," the federal probe agency had alleged.
    Khaira said in his post, "...we all know the arrests made by ED during the BJP regime are based on political directions and the conviction rate of ED is very meagre, so the sole aim of governments is to harass and destroy the image of a person ... hence I condemn this politically motivated arrest and urge @INCIndia to support him."

(This story has not been edited by THE WEEK and is auto-generated from PTI)