CBI court frames charges against ASI of Chandigarh Police in bribery case

Tribune news service

Chandigarh, July 16

Jagjit Singh, Special Judge of the CBI court, has framed charges against Harbhajan Lal, Assistant Sub-Inspector (ASI) of the Chandigarh Police, arrested in a bribery case by the CBI.

In the order pronounced today, the court said “from the material placed on the file, a prima facie offence punishable under section 7 of the Prevention of Corruption Act 1988 (as amended in 2018) is found to have been made out against the accused person. The accused has been chargesheeted accordingly to which he pleaded not guilty and claimed trial.” The court has also issued summons for three prosecution witnesses besides the sanctioning authority for the next date of hearing on October 18.

The CBI arrested the ASI on the charge of demanding a bribe from an Air Force employee, Dharmpal, on February 16. In his complaint, Dharampal, a resident of Lalru, alleged that Harbhajan Lal demanded a bribe threatening him to implicate in a false case.

In a complaint to the CBI, Dharampal alleged that he had taken a loan of Rs3,20,000 for the marriage of his son from a finance company in Sector 32, Chandigarh, in May, 2018. He had paid the instalments regularly till October 2020. As the company was allegedly not providing him any receipt, he stopped making further payments to the company.

He alleged that on receiving a complaint from the company, the ASI allegedly demanded a bribe of Rs10,000 for not registering a case against him. The CBI sleuths laid a trap and caught the ASI while allegedly accepting the bribe amount near the Nirman cinema in Sector 32.