The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has launched a vigilance investigation against former Punjab Deputy Chief Minister Om Parkash Soni. The ED has requested a copy of the investigation report and documents pertaining to OP Soni from Vigilance. Although no vigilance officer is willing to speak directly about it, but no one is denying it either.
In the disproportionate assets case, Vigilance had apprehended OP Soni from his home on July 9. On November 25, 2022, Vigilance summoned him for the first time. An FIR was filed in the Amritsar vigilance office after an 8-month probe. He was apprehended shortly after the case was filed under the Anti-Corruption Act.
From April 1, 2016 to March 31, 2022, former deputy CM Soni and his family earned Rs 4.52 crore and spent Rs 12.48 crore. His expenditure exceeded his revenue from unknown sources by Rs 7.96 crore. During this time, Soni purchased real estate in the names of his wife Suman Soni and son Raghav Soni.
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OP Soni was appointed Deputy Chief Minister in 2021, following the resignation of Captain Amarinder Singh and the appointment of Charanjit Singh Channi as Chief Minister. OP Soni has won elections to the Punjab Legislative Assembly in 1997, 2002, 2007, 2012, and 2017. Soni defeated Tarun Chugh of the BJP from Amritsar Central by almost 21,000 votes in the 2017 assembly elections.
In 1991, he was elected as the city's first mayor. For the past two years, he has also served as the General Secretary of the Punjab Congress Public Committee and as the Chairman of the All India Council of Mayors. In addition, he was a member of the Legislative Assembly's Public Accounts Committee and the Chairman of the Punjab Legislative Assembly's Local Bodies and Committee on Public Undertakings in 2017-18.