Former Punjab minister Sadhu Singh Dharamsot has been arrested by the Vigilance Bureau on the charge of corruption.
The development comes more than a month after Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann had warned action against the Congress leader.
Dharamsot was Punjab's Minister of Forests and Social Welfare in the Captain Amarinder Singh Cabinet. Along with him, a local journalist, Kamaljit Singh, who was allegedly working as an aide, was also arrested.
The Hindustan Times reported that the vigilance bureau had collected many proofs against the ex minister when they recently arrested a divisional forest officer who is said to have paid huge bribes to the Congress leader.
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He was allegedly paid Rs 500 per tree by contractors when trees were axed to execute development projects.
He has also been accused of masterminding a multi-crore scam in Dalit scholarship schemes.