The Punjab government suffered major embarrassment on Saturday when its agriculture minister, Tota Singh, was convicted and sentenced to one year in prison by a Mohali court on charges of misusing official machinery from 1997 to 2002, during his tenure as state education minister. He, however, was granted bail to enable him to approach a higher court to challenge the conviction.
The verdict comes as a setback to the newly formed SAD-BJP government, which has seen its second Cabinet minister sentenced by a court. In March, Akali minister Bibi Jagir Kaur had been sentenced to five years’ imprisonment by a CBI court in Patiala and is still serving her sentence.
Tota Singh was booked by the vigilance department under the Prevention of Corruption Act during the Congress regime in 2002. His name also figured in the clerk recruitment scam in the education department. The court also convicted him of misusing the official car of the Punjab School Education Board.