ED arrests Congress leader and Punjab ex-minister Bharat Bhushan Ashu

Jalandhar, The ED on Thursday arrested former Punjab minister and Congress leader Bharat Bhushan Ashu in a tender "scam"-linked money-laundering case, officials said. Ashu (53) was taken into custody after questioning at the zonal office of the federal agency here.

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) had raided the premises of Ashu, Raman Balasubramanium, a former chairman of the Ludhiana Improvement Trust, and some others in August 2023.

The money-laundering investigation stems from a Punjab Vigilance Bureau FIR related to the state government's transportation and labour cartage policy of 2021 and complaints related to a Ludhiana Improvement Trust "scam" regarding allotment of plots to bogus persons.


It was alleged that the tenders "were allotted to contractors who approached the minister (Ashu) through Rakesh Kumar Singla, chairman of CVC, Food and Civil Supplies", the ED had said.

Ashu is a former minister of food and civil supplies in the Punjab government.