Yamunanagar : The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Tuesday arrested a Haryana Police inspector and two conduits for accepting Rs 5 lakh bribe from a Chandigarh-based jeweller for not naming him in an FIR, having threatened false implication in a case. Ganga Ram Poonia SP Yamunanagar told media persons that Inspector Balwant Singh posted in Yamunanagar police’s cyber cell, along with the two other accused Harpal Singh and Janinder Singh, both natives of Haryana were produced before a special CBI court on Wednesday and sent to judicial custody after he was suspended from the service. They were arrested following a complaint by Sukhjit Singh, a resident of Modern Housing Complex, Manimajra, who alleged that the cop threatened him and demanded an illegal gratification of Rs 40 lakh for not framing him in a case under investigation. After negotiations, the deal was settled at Rs 5 lakh.
Sukhjit had approached the CBI on April 10, submitting that he ran a silver jewellery shop in Sector 23-C, Chandigarh. On March 29, inspector Balwant Singh visited his shop and enquired about one Vikramjeet Singh, proprietor of RV Silver, Mohali. Sukhjit said when he responded that he knew Vikramjeet through his tenant and also had business transactions with him, the inspector told him that they had detained Vikramjeet and one Anchal Mittal, who disclosed that Rs 40 lakh belonging to Vikramjeet were with him. Denying this, Sukhjit showed the inspector some documents, proving that it was in fact Vikramjeet who owed him Rs 26 lakh in payments. The inspector then took him out of the shop and threatened that he was the investigating officer of the case and will implicate him in the FIR, threatening him that he will face trouble even if he gets relief from court, the inspector demanded a bribe of Rs 40 lakh which was finalized at Rs 5 lakh
Sukhjit alleged that the cop took him to the parking lot, where he introduced a woman as Anchal Mittal who was sitting in a Haryana Police vehicle. The cop said the woman will give a statement as told, before leaving. As per the complainant, the cop called him twice on March 31 and April 2, threatening to name him in the case if he failed to arrange Rs 40 lakh by April 10. which was reduced to Rs 5 lakh. However, Sukhjit filed a complaint with the CBI that laid a trap. The subsequent calls exchanged between the complainant and the cyber crime cell were recorded, wherein the former requested him to reduce the bribe to Rs 5 lakh that the cop told him to route through hawala. On Sukhjit’s denial, the cop told him that he will send some men to his shop after 11 am on Monday to collect the bribe. As Harpal Singh and Janinder Singh arrived at the jewellery shop to accept the money at the inspector’s behest, CBI sleuths swooped in and caught them red-handed.
CBI team arrested Cyber Crime Cell Inspector Balwant Sing on Tuesday and also conducted searches at residential and office premises of all accused, leading to recovery of incriminating documents. The accused were produced before a special CBI court on Wednesday and sent to judicial remand. A case under Section 7 (offence relating to public servant being bribed) of the Prevention of Corruption Act, punishable with imprisonment not less than three years, which may extend to seven years, along with fine was registered againstr the trio.
