Before Punjab DIG’s arrest, CBI caught aide taking Rs 8L bribe

The CBI allegedly caught Punjab DIG Harcharan Singh Bhullar’s middleman Kirshanu red-handed while taking Rs 8 lakh on the cop’s behalf in Sector 21 here before it arrested the IPS officer.

The CBI laid a trap to catch Kirshanu. During the proceedings, a controlled call was made to the Punjab Police officer during which he acknowledged the payment and directed the middleman and the complainant to come to his office, said sources. The CBI team then picked the IPS officer from his office.

The agency sleuths found Rs 5 crore in cash, 1.5 kg of gold, keys of luxury cars, documents of properties in Punjab, 22 high-end watches, 40 litres of imported alcohol, a double-barrel gun, a pistol, a revolver, an airgun and ammunition in the DIG’s possession. The CBI claimed that Rs 21 lakh in cash was recovered from aide Kirshanu. CBI officials said searches and further investigation were underway.

Bhullar was picked up from his Mohali office but shown as arrested in Chandigarh as Punjab, just like many other states, had withdrawn General Consent to the CBI to investigate. “Hence, the CBI cannot act against Central Government employees in the state. The CBI gets consent to investigate on a case-to-case basis and makes arrests,” said a top Punjab Police official.

The photos of three bags containing cash, a brief case full of money and jewellery, supposedly recovered from Bhullar’s house, went viral. After four hours of search at the DIG’s Sector 40 house, the CBI brought in cash-counting machines in the evening.

Sources said the CBI cross-questioned Bhullar and his aide Kirshanu at its office in Sector 30 for hours. He will be produced in the Special CBI court in Chandigarh tomorrow.

The CBI arrested Punjab DIG Harcharan Singh Bhullar, a 2009-batch IPS officer, along with a private individual, in a bribery case involving Rs 8 lakh.

The officer was also allegedly seeking recurring monthly illegal payments from the complainant.

A case was registered by the CBI on October 16 against the Punjab DIG and his associate on allegations that the officer had demanded a bribe and monthly illegal gratification through his middleman for “settling” an FIR registered against the complainant and ensuring that no further coercive police action was taken against his (the complainant’s) business.