Former Punjab Agriculture Director Acquitted in Pesticide Scandal Corruption Case

In a 2015 corruption case connected to the Punjab pesticide scandal, former agriculture director Dr. Mangal Singh Sandhu was found not guilty by a Bathinda court; nonetheless, suspects Vijay Kumar and Shubam Goyal, partners of a pesticides dealer company, were given two years in prison each. According to Sandhu's attorney Nand Lal Garg, the absence of proof led to his acquittal.

In this instance, the order was received on March 31 and posted on April 5. Ankush Goyal, a supplier of pesticides, and Nirankar Singh, who was the joint director of agriculture at the time, were also acquitted.

After Kumar, who had been detained on suspicion of distributing fake pesticides, claimed to have given Sandhu a bribe of Rs 8 lakh, Sandhu was identified in the FIR. The police apparently failed to identify the briber or locate Sandhu with the bribe money.

The Shiromani Akali Dal-BJP administration in Punjab at the time faced criticism in 2015 after a white-fly infestation caused two-thirds of the cotton crop to be ruined. The administration came under fire amid claims that farmers had been given fake pesticides, which had prevented them from controlling the pest attack.

The Bathinda police filed a FIR on September 2, 2015, after finding fake pesticides in the Rama Mandi neighbourhood of Bathinda district. Ankush, a supplier of pesticides, Kumar, and Shubham, dealers for a reputable pesticides company, were detained on September 15, 2015. In police custody, Kumar said that Sandhu had been listed in the FIR at the end of September because of a bribe he had given to the latter.

There have been claims that Sandhu was involved in the acquisition of pesticides at costs far higher than those that were common in the market but were not advised by the Punjab Agricultural University. Sandhu was detained on October 4, 2015, at his home in Chandigarh. The Indian Penal Code, the Insecticides Act, the Prevention of Corruption Act, and numerous other acts were used to charge Sandhu.

Sandhu was a joint director for agriculture, and he was scheduled to retire on April 30, 2014, but he received two one-year extensions, bringing his retirement date to April 30, 2016. 

He was listed as the acting director of agriculture on his extension. When Sandhu was detained and arrested in 2015, he was on his second extension. At his home, the cops seized Rs 4 lakh in Indian currency notes, 12,000 USD, 1,300 Canadian dollars and 53 bottles of imported scotch. He was suspended on October 5, 2015. Sandhu was fired from his position as official director by the Punjab government on September 17, 2015, a day before his detention. Sandhu received bail and a stay of proceedings from the high court in December 2015, respectively.

Despite the fact that Sandhu was supposed to retire on April 30, 2016, as a result of this scandal, he was let go on March 31, 2016.

Sandhu is a native of the Muktsar district of Lambi, which was represented by the late chief minister Parkash Singh Badal.