Chandigarh, March 8: After being forced to resign from the Parkash Singh Badal-led Punjab government in September last year following allegations of embezzlement of funds, Akali Dal leader Gulzar Singh Ranike was Thursday again inducted as a cabinet minister.
Governor Shivraj Patil administered the oath of office and secrecy to Ranike at the Punjab Raj Bhawan here Thursday evening.
After Ranike quit, Badal had ordered a vigilance probe into the matter. A senior official said here that Ranike was given a "clean chit" by the vigilance department in the controversy.
Ranike, who was Punjab's animal husbandry, fisheries, dairy development and scheduled castes/backward classes welfare minister, had resigned from his post September last year following allegations of embezzlement of grants from his discretionary funds as a minister.
His personal assistant, Sarbhdyal Singh, has been accused of opening a number of bank accounts in 2011 in the name of dummy village headmen (sarpanches), and encashing an amount of Rs 1.15 crore through these accounts later.
