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Chandigarh, Oct 17 (IANS) A CBI court here on Friday sent Punjab Deputy Inspector General of Police, Ropar Range, Harcharan Singh Bhullar to 14-day judicial custody following his arrest on bribery charges and the recovery of huge amount of cash and jewelery weighing about 1.5 kg from his house.
The Central Bureau of Investigation on Thursday arrested senior 2009 batch Indian Police Service officer Bhullar along with middleman Kirshanu Sharda in a Rs 8 lakh bribery case.
The arrest came after a scrap dealer lodged a complaint that DIG Bhullar demanded a monthly bribe, popularly known as “seva-pani”, in return for settling a 2023 First Information Report (FIR) against him.
The CBI had registered a case against the senior police officer and his associate on allegations that the officer had demanded a bribe and monthly illegal gratification of Rs 8 lakh through his middleman to “settlement” the FIR lodged against the complainant and ensure that no further punitive or adverse police action would be taken against his business.
CBI laid a trap and caught the private person red-handed while demanding and accepting Rs 8 lakh from the complainant on behalf of the DIG in Sector 21, Chandigarh.
During the trap proceedings, a controlled call was made to the DIG, during which he accepted the payment and directed the middleman and the complainant to come to his office.
Subsequently, the CBI team caught Bhullar from his office and arrested both the accused in Chandigarh.
During searches of various premises belonging to the DIG in Punjab and Chandigarh, the CBI recovered substantial cash and incriminating material, including approximately Rs 5 crore in cash (and counting); The jewelery weighs approximately 1.5 kg; Documents relating to immovable properties and assets in Punjab; keys to two luxury vehicles (Mercedes and Audi); 22 luxury watches; Locker keys; 40 liter imported liquor bottles; And firearms – a double-barreled gun, a pistol, a revolver, an airgun, with ammunition.
Recovery of Rs 21 lakh including cash from the middleman.
Bhullar, son of former Punjab DGP MS Bhullar, also led a special investigation team in the high-profile drug case involving Akali Dal leader Bikram Singh Majithia.
–IANS
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