Manpreet Badal, a former finance minister for Punjab, and five other people were arrested in a land-buying case in Bathinda

Manpreet Singh Badal, the former state finance minister who is now affiliated with the BJP, and five other people have been the subject of legal action by the Punjab Vigilance Bureau. According to a senior official on Monday, the investigation centers on potential irregularities in the purchase of a property in Bathinda.

According to the source, the people mentioned in the lawsuit, which was filed on Sunday night, in addition to Manpreet Badal, also include the previous commissioner of the Bathinda Municipal Corporation, Bikramjit Shergill, Rajiv Kumar, Amandeep Singh, Vikas Arora, and Pankaj. In connection with the case, Rajiv Kumar and Amandeep Singh have already been detained, according to the authorities cited by news agency IANS.

The bureau’s probe was prompted by a complaint made in 2021 by Sarup Chand Singla, a former MLA who is now a BJP politician and was once affiliated with the Shiromani Akali Dal. Inconsistencies were allegedly present in the acquisition of a home in Bathinda’s most desirable area, according to Singla’s lawsuit.

In addition to provisions under the Prevention of Corruption Act, the case has been filed under many sections of the Indian Penal Code, including sections 420 (cheating) and 468 (forgery). The charges center on Manpreet Badal’s alleged abuse of power while he was a minister in the previous Congress administration and allegedly turned commercial lands into residential plots for his own advantage.

Former Congressman Manpreet Badal has filed a pre-arrest bail plea with Bathinda’s Additional District and Sessions Judge Ram Kumar Singla in response to the legal action.

The hearing has been set on September 26 and the Vigilance Bureau officials have been ordered to provide the police records on the hearing day.

An ex-Congressman named Manpreet Singh Badal joined the Bhartiya Janta Party in January of this year.