DA case: Charges farmed against Faridkot ex-MLA, 2 aides

A Faridkot court on Friday framed charges against former Congress MLA from Faridkot Kushaldeep Singh Dhillon alias Kiki Dhillon and his two aides in a disproportionate assets (DA) case.

Faridkot special judge Rajiv Kalra ordered that charges be framed against Dhillon, Gursewak Singh and Rajwinder Singh under sections 13(1) (b), 13(2) of the Prevention of Corruption Act and 120-B (criminal conspiracy) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC). The court adjourned the matter to December 8 to start arguments on prosecution evidence.

On May 16, VB had arrested Dhillon for amassing assets disproportionate to his known sources of income. Following an inquiry, VB had booked Dhillon and his two aides, Gursewak and Rajwinder for corruption and conspiracy.

On July 13, VB filed a 1,158-page chargesheet against Dhillon in a disproportionate assets case claiming that during the investigation, it was found that he spent 242% more than his known sources of income from 2017-2022 when he was the MLA.

VB, in the first chargesheet, had claimed that the agency had conducted a thorough investigation of 57 assets linked to Dhillon and verified the assets accumulated by the accused beyond his known sources of income during his five years tenure as Faridkot MLA from 2017-2022. “During the course of the investigation, it has been established that the total income of the accused during the check period was ₹3.18 crore, and expenditure was ₹10.72 crore, which is 242% more than his income,” VB has said in its chargesheet.

“Dhillon has incurred ₹7.53 crore more than his known sources of income in the past five years,” VB added in the chargesheet.

In August, the Punjab government granted sanction to the state vigilance bureau to prosecute Dhillon in the disproportionate assets case.