JCB scam: Former Punjab Speaker Kahlon, four others acquitted

A district court today acquitted all the five accused, including former Punjab Assembly Speaker Nirmal Singh Kahlon, of all the charges in a case pertaining to alleged scam in the purchase of JCB machines.
Additional District and Session Judge D S Johal acquitted Kahlon, who was the Rural Development and Panchayats Minister during SAD-BJP regime between 1997-2002, retired IAS officer J S Kesar, who was then Secretary, Rural Development and Panchayats Department, Baldev Singh, then chief engineer, and two employees of JCB company Amit Sood and Anil Bhatia, of all the charges leveled against them in a case registered by the Punjab Vigilance Bureau.

The case pertains to the purchase of more than 100 JCB machines by a five-member committee constituted by the Parkash Singh Badal government in 2000.
Alleging irregularities amounting to Rs 13.71 crore in the purchase of the machines, the Vigilance Bureau had booked Kahlon and four others in 2002, when Amarinder Singh (Congress) became the Chief Minister (2002-07).
Terming the case a political vendetta against Akali leaders, Kahlon said they had been "framed by the then Amarinder Singh government".
"Now the truth has come before the people," he said.