Amarinder arrest stayed in Ludhiana City Centre case till Jan 22

Ludhiana, Jan 10 (UNI) A local court today stayed the arrest of former Punjab chief minister Capt Amrinder Singh till January 22 in the multi crore Ludhiana City Centre case in which he along with 35 others has been chargesheeted.

Besides Capt Singh, the court also stayed the arrests of his son Raninder Singh, his relative Raminder Singh Ricky and former minister Chaudhry Jagjit Singh till the same date. The three have also been named in the chargesheet by the state Vigilance Bureau that probed the scam and filed the charges in the court last month.

The bail applications of Capt Singh, Raninder, Raminder and Chaudhry Jagjit Singh same up for hearing in the court of District and Sessions Judge G K Rai here. The court after hearing the arguments of the defence and the prosecution counsel stayed the arrest till January 22, when the application will again come up for hearing.

Capt Singh and the others, granted bail by the Punjab and Haryana High Court in the case, were directed to approach the Ludhiana court for regularisation of their bail.

The probe in the Ludhiana City Centre scam during the tenure of Capt Singh was ordered in December last year. However, the case against Capt Singh and 17 others was registered in March last year after the SAD-BJP rose to power.

After the registration of the case, Capt Singh, Raninder, Raminder and Chaudhry Jagjit Singh had approached the High Court and had obtained bail. They were, however, directed by the Court to join investigations in the case.

A number of others, including officials of Today Homes and Infrastructure who had executed the project for Ludhiana Improvement Trust, were arrested by the Vigilance Bureau for their alleged role in the scam. The Bureau in its chargesheet against 36 people has claimed that money exchanged hands in the award of the construction contract for the project to Today Homes, thereby causing a huge loss to the state coffers.

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