Ludhiana: A local court here on Tuesday remanded former minister and Congress leader Bharat Bhushan Ashu to the custody of vigilance bureau till August 27 in an alleged food grain transportation tenders scam.
He was produced before the court of Chief Judicial Magistrate Sumit Makkar.
Tight security arrangements were made before Ashu was to be produced before the court.
Telu Ram, one of the co-accused in this case, was sent to remand till August 25.
During their over an hour-long argument, Ashu's counsels termed the whole case "false and frivolous." They said it was a clear case of "political vendetta and rivalry only to placate some political bosses." Punjab Congress Chief Amrinder Singh Raja Warring, leader of opposition in the Punjab Assembly Partap Singh Bajwa, Ludhiana MP Ravneet Singh Bittu, Amritsar MP Gurjeet Singh Aujla, MLA Pargat Singh, and other party leaders were present in the court complex where the hearing took place.
The Punjab Vigilance Bureau had on Monday arrested Ashu, a former food and supply minister in the previous Congress government.
Ashu, who is the Congress' state unit working president, was arrested in Ludhiana by the state vigilance bureau in a scam related to allotment of transportation tenders on fake registration numbers of vehicles during the previous Congress regime.
Ashu is the second minister of the previous government in the state to be arrested.
In June, the Punjab Vigilance Bureau had arrested former minister and Congress leader Sadhu Singh Dharamsot on corruption charges.
(This story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)