The arrests came a day after National Commission for SC/ST accused the department of "willfully" slowing the pace of probe into the financial bungling in rural development funds.
According to VB, arrested accused are BDPO Satwinder Singh and sarpanchs Dalip Singh and Amrik Singh.
Yesterday, National Commission for SC/ST served a month limit to the department to conclude the ongoing probe or the matter would be transferred to CBI.
Sarabdyal Singh, the personal assistant of former Animal Husbandry Minister Gulzar Singh Ranike is on run and wanted by police since the scam of border area grants surfaced three months back.
The case was transferred to VB after the resignation of Ranike few weeks back.
The latest investigation indicate that accused Sarabdyal Singh allegedly embezzled nearly Rs 4 crore by encashing 12 cheques meant for development works in Attari constituency through dummy bank accounts.
