Punjab's Vigilance Bureau has arrested Aam Aadmi Party MLA Raman Arora from Jalandhar Central constituency.
The Vigilance Department raided Raman Arora's house on Friday. At around 10 am, the Vigilance team reached Raman Arora's house in Ashok Nagar, Jalandhar.
During the raid, the police closed all the gates of the streets in Raman Arora's locality and no one was being allowed to come in from outside.
Corruption case involved former assistant town planner
The corruption case involved former assistant town planner (ATP) of the municipal corporation, Sukhdev Vashisht, who was arrested last week.
Arora allegedly used Vashisht to issue bogus notices and extort money from targeted individuals. The VB raided Arora’s house on Friday morning following complaints against him.
Though VB officials were tightlipped, the AAP posted the development on X: “(Bhagwant) Mann sarkar’s big action against corruption. No one is above the law — not even within the AAP. Vigilance raids MLA Raman Arora over fake Nagar Nigam notices, extortion and digital scams. This is what real accountability looks like.”
Raman Arora contested the election for the first time from Jalandhar Central Assembly constituency on behalf of Aam Aadmi Party in 2022, in which he defeated his Congress rival Rajinder Beri and BJP's Manoranjan Kalia.
AAP shared information
The Aam Aadmi Party has also shared information about this on its official Facebook page, in which they shared a poster and alleged that Vigilance raided the house of current MLA Raman Arora from Jalandhar in a corruption case.
AAP also wrote that Raman Arora used to take a huge amount of money in exchange for settling the matter by sending false notices to people through Jalandhar Municipal Corporation officials.
Punjab minister Harpal Singh Cheema said that this action is being taken on the basis of evidence. Recently, the security given to Raman Arora was also withdrawn.
State govt has zero tolerance for corruption: Mann
Reacting to the arrest, chief minister Bhagwant Mann said the state government has zero tolerance for corruption. “It is not a fight against any particular individual but the corrupt system for which the government has adopted a clear-cut policy. No one will be spared whether it is our own or a stranger. Anyone who commits any kind of corruption will not be tolerated and legal action will be taken against such leaders and officials,” Mann said.
Prakash Kumar Pandey