Senior Congress leader and former Food and Supplies Minister Bharat Bhushan Ashu has been arrested by the Punjab Vigilance Bureau from Ludhiana, for illegalities in the tender allotment scam. Ashu was also accused of a 2 thousand crore tender scam. He was accused of malpractices in the labor and transportation tenders in the mandis of Punjab. He is the second minister from the previous Congress government to be detained on corruption-related accusations by the AAP government.
The Vigilance team arrested Ashu when he was getting a haircut at a salon. During this, Ludhiana Congress MP Ravneet Singh Bittu was also present with Ashu. At the time of Ashu's arrest, Bittu clashed with the Vigilance officers.
Ashu's name was taken by the arrested contractor in the tender scam related to the loading-unloading of wheat in the mandis of the state. Since that time, Vigilance had Ashu on its radar. After the arrest of Ashu, Congress started surrounding the Ludhiana Vigilance Office.
Today in Chandigarh, the Punjab Congress held a dharna in front of the Vigilance Director's office. During this, Ashu challenged that he is present here, and arrest the Vigilance. At that point, vigilance did not take any action. Ashu returned to Ludhiana after the dharna. Late in the evening when he reached Saloon in leisure, the Vigilance reached there to arrest him.