Buta Singh's son sent to police custody till Aug 5

Mumbai, July 31 : Former union minister Buta Singh's son Sarabjot alias Sweety Singh, who was arrested for allegedly accepting Rs.1 crore bribe, was Friday night sent to police custody till Aug 5 by a city court.

Sarabjot Singh was placed under arrest by the anti-corruption wing of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), which is investigating the case.

Along with Singh, his three associates - Anoop Bedi, Madan Solanki and Dukhsingh Chauhan - were presented before Sessions Judge S.P.H. Nagarkar and remanded to police custody till Aug 5.

Singh had been caught taking a bribe of Rs.10 million from a Nashik-based contractor in return for withdrawing an atrocities case filed against him. He was nabbed in New Delhi late Thursday night and brought to Mumbai.

His three associates were arrested from different parts of India - Mumbai, New Delhi and Pune.

The proceedings in the court of Sessions Judge Nagarkar were delayed by over four hours after at least two of the accused complained that they had been beaten up by the CBI sleuths to extract a confession from them.

Judge Nagarkar ordered that the two be taken to a nearby government medical hospital for a medical examination.

He passed the order for police custody after they returned from a medical check-up around 9 p.m.

The corruption case against Sarabjot Singh involves a complaint filed by a Nashik civic works contractor Ramraj Patil.

Patil had alleged that Sarabjot Singh had demanded a bribe of Rs.3 crore for withdrawing an atrocities case under the SC/ST act filed against Patil by a group of local conservancy workers employed by him.

Sarabjot Singh was nabbed by CBI sleuths when he was allegedly accepting Rs.10 million in New Delhi.

The conservancy workers, numbering around 100, worked for Patil who is a contractor with Nashik Municipal Corporation. They filed the case alleging he was not paying them their wages and had also taken a bank loan of Rs.10 crore in their name.

After this, the workers filed a case against Patil with the Nashik Police under the SC/ST Atrocities act.

Sarabjot Singh, who was in touch with the aggrieved conservancy workers, allegedly approached Patil with an offer to withdraw the case against him in return for Rs.30 million (three crore).

After some haggling, Patil promised to cough up the sum and also informed the CBI about Singh's demands.

CBI sleuths laid a trap for Singh and caught him in New Delhi last (Thursday) evening when he was accepting the first instalment of Rs.10 million from Patil.