Akali leader and former chairman of Markfed cooperative federation Jarnail Singh Wahid was taken into custody by the Punjab Vigilance Bureau on Saturday over alleged irregularities at a sugar mill here, official sources said.

Wahid was the chairman and managing director of the Sandhar sugar mill, which owes Rs 42 crore to sugarcane growers.

The sources said a team of sleuths led by Senior Superintendent of Police of Vigilance Bureau Rajewshwar Singh Sidhu raided Wahid's residence located on the Phagwara-Hoshiarpur road on Saturday.

Members of the Bharti Kisan Union (Doaba) have been holding a 'dharna' against the sugar mill for the last four days. Farmers have locked the gates of the mill and demanded the clearance of all dues.

On Thursday, Punjab Agriculture Minister Gurmeet Singh Khudian held a meeting with representatives of the BKU (Doaba) and directed the deputy commissioner of Kapurthala to expedite the process of attaching the properties of defaulting owners of the sugar mill.

He also asked the Kapurthala district authorities to ensure that all pending dues of cane farmers be cleared in a time-bound manner.

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