By: Express News Service Ludhiana | June 12, 2025 08:25 IST 2 min readCongress leader Bharat Bhushan Ashu.A Ludhiana court Wednesday declared the anticipatory bail application of Congress leader Bharat Bhushan Ashu “infructuous” after the Punjab Vigilance Bureau stated that “Ashu has not been nominated as an accused” in the FIR registered in connection with the school land misuse case.On June 5, the Punjab Vigilance Bureau summoned Ashu, asking him to join the investigation into the case. The move triggered political uproar as Ashu is the Congress’s candidate for the Ludhiana West Assembly by-election scheduled on June 19.The Congress alleged that the ruling AAP government was resorting to “cheap tactics” to derail Ashu’s election campaign.However, the AAP government suspended Ludhiana vigilance SSP Jagatpreet Singh, alleging that “the officer was hand in glove with Ashu, who got himself summons issued to gain public sympathy in the election”.After the summons was issued, Ashu applied for anticipatory bail in the local court.Ashu’s counsel Vijay Mahendru said, “The vigilance bureau’s investigation officer informed the court on Wednesday that Ashu had not been nominated as an accused in the FIR yet. He was summoned only to join the investigation. Since he is not an accused and not wanted for arrest, the court declared the bail application infructuous. The detailed written order will be available by tomorrow,” Mahendru added.Earlier, the court was informed that an FIR for cheating, forgery and other offences was registered on January 8 this year at the Division Number 5 police station in Ludhiana on the complaint of an Executive Officer of Ludhiana Improvement Trust (LIT) for action against the management committee of New Senior Secondary School. It was alleged that 4.7 acres in Sarabha Nagar were allotted to the school committee for running a charitable school, but the land was allegedly being misused for other commercial businesses/activities.Stay updated with the latest - Click here to follow us on Instagram© The Indian Express Pvt LtdTags:Congress