MOHALI: The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Thursday arrested Punjab Deputy Inspector General of Police (Ropar Range) Harcharan Singh Bhullar, along with another person, in connection with a corruption case involving bribery of Rs 8 lakh.
Bhullar, a 2009-batch IPS officer posted as DIG of Ropar Range, was also allegedly demanding regular monthly illegal payments from the complainant to “settle” an FIR and protect the complainant’s business from coercive police action.
Acting on the complaint, the CBI set up a trap and nabbed the private individual red-handed in Sector 21, Chandigarh, while extorting and receiving Rs 8 lakh on behalf of Bhullar. A controlled call was made to Bhullar during the operation, when he purportedly accepted payment and asked both the middleman and the complainant to visit his office.
The CBI team thereafter arrested Bhullar from his office at Chandigarh and both the accused.
Subsequent raids at Bhullar’s houses and other locations in Punjab and Chandigarh resulted in the seizure of huge amounts of cash and luxury items, including about Rs 5 crore in cash, 1.5 kg of jewellery, property records, keys to a Mercedes and Audi, 22 designer watches, keys to lockers, and 40 litres of imported alcohol. The investigators also took into custody several weapons, such as a double-barreled gun, a pistol, a revolver, an air gun, and cartridges.
The CBI also recovered cash of Rs 21 lakh from the office of the middleman. Both Bhullar and the private person have been nabbed and will be produced before the concerned court on October 17.
Searches and probes are continuing.