Punjab Officer Arrested For 'Misusing Post', Opposition Claims Picked Up From Cremation Ground

The Vigilance Bureau has arrested the executive director of the Punjab State Industrial Export Corporation (PSIEC), who was booked for allegedly conniving with other officials of the corporation to provide undue benefit to a realtor firm.

The action against SP Singh came under fire from opposition parties, which claimed that he was arrested from the cremation ground in Mohali on Saturdya when he was performing the last rites of his father and veteran journalist NS Parwana.

Several political leaders, including Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann and his Haryana counterpart Manohar Lal Khattar, had condoled Mr Parwana's demise. ML Khattar was present at Mr Parwana's cremation.

A Vigilance Bureau spokesperson said Mr Singh had been booked for allegedly conniving with other officials of the PSIEC in the case of transferring an industrial plot in violation of norms, and causing huge loss to the state exchequer.

He would be produced before a court here on Sunday, the spokesperson said.

"Highly insensitive and cruel to arrest a son when he was cremating his father. The SAD condemns the AAP government for interfering in the last rites of veteran journalist NS Parwana and arresting his son from the cremation ground," Shiromani Akali Dal president Sukhbir Singh Badal said in a tweet.

Punjab Vigilance Bureau had recently registered a case against former minister Sunder Sham Arora, an IAS officer, and 10 other government officials for allegedly transferring an industrial plot to a realtor firm and allowing it to establish a township by cutting plots in violation of norms.

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