Chandigarh police salary scam: Accused denied bail

Chandigarh, January 18

A local court has denied bail to an accused, Balwinder Kumar, arrested in the alleged salary scam in the Chandigarh Police. While the counsel for the accused pleaded before the court that he had been falsely implicated in the case, the public prosecutor opposed the bail.

The police arrested the accused after registering an FIR under Sections 420 and 120-B of the IPC at the Sector 3 police station on February 2, 2020.

The FIR was registered on the basis of an inquiry, which allegedly found that 39 police officials were allegedly disbursed excess salary.

The public prosecutor argued that the special audit team pointed out an alleged embezzlement of over Rs1.1 crore. During investigation, it was found that the applicant, Junior Assistant, being in-charge of the branch, was responsible for checking monthly salary bill in addition to other work. The investigation with regard to other police officials is in progress and there is strong apprehension that he may tamper with the records and win over the witnesses, if granted bail.

After hearing the arguments, Dr Rajneesh, Additional Sessions Judge, Chandigarh, said there was nothing on record to suggest that the prosecution launched by the complainant was false.

“Mere presentation of a challan in the court does not entitle the applicant to grant relief of bail. Trial is yet to commence. Therefore, there is every likelihood that, if granted bail, the applicant may attempt to hamper the trial in one way or the other. At this stage, it is too early to jump to any conclusion for the purpose of bail. Therefore, without further delving into the merits of the case and in view of the serious allegations against the present applicant, the court is of the opinion that at this stage, the applicant is not entitled to the concession of bail,” said the court. —