Punjab speaker granted anticipatory bail in graft case
By IANSThursday, August 26, 2010
CHANDIGARH - Punjab Assembly Speaker Nirmal Singh Kahlon was Thursday granted anticipatory bail by the Punjab and Haryana High Court here in a corruption case against him and 14 others.
After granting him the bail, Justice M.M.S. Bedi also directed Kahlon to not to tamper with the evidence and hamper the probe.
Earlier, on the orders of high court, Kahlon had appeared before the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) special court, in Punjab’s Patiala town Aug 17. The CBI court had granted him interim bail.
The CBI, in July, filed a charge sheet in the trial court against Kahlon on charges of corruption, cheating, forgery and abuse of official position in the recruitment of 909 panchayat secretaries between 1997 and 2002.
Kahlon, a senior leader of the ruling Akali Dal in Punjab, was state rural development and panchayats minister when the recruitment of panchayat secretaries took place.
Those booked with him included the then financial commissioner-cum-principal secretary J.S. Kesar and the then rural development director Mandeep Singh, both senior Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officers in Punjab. Kesar retired some time back.
The remaining officers are from the rural development and panchayats department.
All 15 people, including Kahlon, have been charged under various sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and the Prevention of Corruption Act.
