Punjab: Former minister Ashu’s anticipatory bail plea rejected
Punjab: In a significant development, the court of Additional Sessions Judge Gurpreet Kaur today rejected the anticipatory bail plea of Punjab Congress working president and Ludhiana (West) Assembly constituency candidate Bharat Bhushan Ashu in a Vigilance Bureau case involving alleged land fraud. The court declared the bail plea as infructuous in view of the statement made by Vigilance Bureau DSP Vinod Sharma, who informed the court that Ashu has not yet been named as an accused in the case.
On June 6, a vacation bench headed by Additional Sessions Judge Jaspinder Singh had granted interim anticipatory bail to Ashu till June 11. During the proceedings, a group of lawyers representing the former minister urged the court to grant him bail or alternatively direct the Vigilance Bureau to serve notice at least three days before any arrest. However, his plea was opposed by a team of public prosecutors comprising District Attorney Puneet Jaggi, Additional Public Prosecutors Ramandeep Toor Gill, Monika Gupta, Ajay Singla and VB Additional Public Prosecutor Gurpreet Grewal, who strongly argued for the rejection of the bail plea.
