Chandigarh (Punjab) [India], October 30 (HBTV): The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has registered a fresh case of disproportionate assets, involving the acquisition of assets beyond known sources of income, against arrested and suspended Punjab Police Deputy Inspector General (DIG) Harcharan Singh Bhullar.
CBI had earlier arrested Bhullar while he was allegedly accepting a bribe of INR 5 lakh. During subsequent searches, the agency recovered INR 7.5 crore in cash, 2.5 kg of gold jewellery, 26 luxury watches, high-end cars, and documents related to immovable assets.
According to the FIR, ‘A written and signed complaint dated October 29 has been received from Sonal Mishra, Inspector, CBI, ACB, Chandigarh. The said complaint is attached as Annexure “A”.’
‘The allegations mentioned in the complaint prima facie disclose commission of cognisable offences punishable under Section 13(2) read with Section 13(1)(b) of the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988 (as amended in 2018) and Section 61(2) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), 2023, against HS Bhullar, DIG, IPS:2009, Punjab Cadre, and unknown others. A regular case is therefore registered under these provisions and substantive offences thereof against Bhullar and unknown others,’ the FIR further read.
Meanwhile, Bhullar was remanded to judicial custody till October 31 by the CBI court in Chandigarh on October 17.
A 2009-batch IPS officer, Bhullar was arrested by the CBI at his office in Chandigarh following a complaint on October 11 alleging that he had demanded a bribe through a middleman to settle an FIR filed against the complainant.
The CBI recovered substantial cash, over INR 5 crore, and incriminating material from his various premises, besides 1.5 kilograms of jewellery, documents related to immovable properties and assets in Punjab. Luxury items, arms, and ammunition were also seized.
Earlier, Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) president Sukhbir Singh Badal expressed shock over the arrest of a senior police officer in Punjab and criticised Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann for his silence on the issue.
‘A DIG in Punjab is arrested by the CBI and INR 7.5 crore in cash, 2.5 kg of gold, 25 luxury watches, and documents of over 50 immovable properties are recovered in searches by the CBI,’ Badal said in a post on X.
‘The images have shocked everyone in the state but the CM, who also holds the home portfolio, continues to remain silent even after 48 hours have passed! Why?’ he added.
Badal questioned the functioning of the state vigilance department headed by the Chief Minister, asking whether it had been instructed to overlook such cases.
‘Another unprecedented development which has got the people of the state thinking is that the CBI did not seek a single day’s police remand of the DIG despite such huge recoveries. How will we know where the money came from and whose coffers it was ultimately meant to fill?’ he asked.
The SAD president further questioned whether a cover-up or protection effort was underway.
(ANI)