Chandigarh : Former Punjab Finance Minister Manpreet Singh Badal’s troubles have increased with issuing of Look Out Circular (LoC) against him on Tuesday by Vigilance Bureau, Punjab.

The development comes in the wake of searches at his Bhatinda residence Monday where the VB teams had gone to arrest him after booking him and five others in a case of alleged cheating and forgery in a purchase of two plots of land at a prime location in Bhatinda.

Officials said his whereabouts were not known. All airports have been put on alert as the VB suspects he might flee the country. He has been booked under relevant sections charging with cheating, forgery and criminal conspiracy of the IPC, Information Technology Act and Prevention of Corruption Act.

He has applied for anticipatory bail in the case and his application is scheduled for hearing on Tuesday.

Now a member of BJP’s state core committee, Manpreet Badal had joined the party after he was defeated by a very big margin as a Congress candidate in 2022 Punjab Assembly elections. He has served Finance Minister in Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD)-BJP and Congress regimes.

Others booked along with him on Sunday include former  chief administrator of Bhatinda Development Authority (BDA) Bikramjit Shergill, Vikas Arora, Amandeep Singh, Rajiv Kumar and Pankaj.

Manpreet is a nephew of five time Punjab chief minister late Parkash Singh Badal.

He has been booked after the VB started investigating the case on the complaint by former SAD MLA Sarup Chand Singla, a bête noire of Manpreet Badal, in 2021 alleging irregularities in the purchase of property. Notably, Singla also left SAD and joined BJP.