Ex-Punjab minister Sunder Sham gets bail for four weeks

The Punjab and Haryana high court on Thursday granted interim bail for four weeks to former industries minister Sunder Sham Arora in the case of an alleged illegal transfer of an industrial plot to a real estate company for setting up a township in Phase 9 Industrial area in Mohali.

The HC bench of justice Raj Mohan Singh passed the order in view of the last week’s apex court directions that all further proceedings arising out of and emanating from the FIR in question as well as coercive actions would remain stayed for four weeks.

Arora is in jail since October 15, 2022, when Punjab vigilance bureau had arrested Arora for allegedly offering bribe to a senior officer to settle a graft case. The FIR was also registered the same day. He has already secured bail in this case.

As of Mohali plot scam, the FIR was registered against him, an IAS officer and 10 other officials named as accused in the case on January 5, wherein allegations are of “wrong bifurcation” of a 25-acre plot in Industrial Focal Point, Mohali, to allegedly benefit a realty firm, ‘Gulmohar Township Private Limited’, causing a huge loss to the state exchequer.

Earlier this week, three officers of PSIEC got bail from the HC.