Anticipatory bail plea of IAS officer Vijay Dahiya dismissed

Bhartesh Singh Thakur

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Chandigarh, May 3

The court of the Additional District and Sessions Judge, Panchkula, Sunil Kumar, today dismissed the anticipatory bail application of IAS officer Vijay Singh Dahiya, Commissioner and Secretary, Youth Empowerment and Entrepreneurship Department, Haryana, in an extortion and corruption case.

The case pertains to the alleged payment of Rs 5 lakh bribe by a Fatehabad resident Rinku Manchanada to Poonam Chopra, a resident of Delhi, for the clearance of his Rs 50 lakh bills through Dahiya. The bills of Manchanda’s firm were related to providing training under the Haryana Skill Development Mission (HSDM).

WhatsApp messages ‘nailed complicity’

• The court said the WhatsApp messages ‘clearly show the complicity’ of Vijay Singh Dahiya and Poonam Chopra in the approval of huge amount of bills pertaining to Rinku Manchanda after the delivery of initial amount of Rs 2 lakh to Chopra
• The court relied on WhatsApp messages between Chopra and Dahiya, and Chopra and Fatehabad resident Rinku Manchanada while dismissing the anticipatory bail application
• On April 11, Chopra forwarded Dahiya’s message to Manchanda, “9 lac pending. Rest cleared. These also by tomorrow”
• Chopra was caught with Rs 3 lakh bribe on April 20 and later had got recovered Rs 2 lakh from her Delhi property office

Chopra was caught with Rs 3 lakh bribe on April 20 and later had got recovered Rs 2 lakh from her Delhi property office during her police remand. Her WhatsApp chats with Dahiya and Rinku unfolded the case.

The Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB), Haryana, had told the court on May 1 that they wanted to recover Rs 13 lakh bribe money from Dahiya which he allegedly took from other training providers through Deepak Sharma, an employee of the HSDM.

There is a likelihood of Dahiya influencing the investigation and intimidating the witnesses as, after April 20, his family members and acquaintances allegedly reached the house of the shadow witness (Pradeeep Kumar Bhola, Horticulture Development Officer) and attempted to pressurise him illegally, the court observed. Bhola was part of the raiding team.

The court also relied on WhatsApp messages between Chopra and Dahiya, and Chopra and Rinku while dismissing the application.

Chopra sent a WhatsApp message to Dahiya at 5:12 pm on April 20, “Sir i can meet u at 6 pm wherever u tell me.” Then she talked to him for one minute and 11 seconds. Dahiya asked her at 5.48 pm whether she was coming. Then he sent another message at 6.40 pm to her, “Waiting since half an hour”.

On her asking where to meet, he replied, “Same place Tonino.” It was Caffe Tonino, Sector 8, Chandigarh. The court observed that Dahiya waited for her for more than an hour and later spent an hour with her.

The court added that the bills of complainant Manchanda were pending approval for the past three years, but Dahiya approved six bills, amounting to Rs 10.43 lakh, from April 6 to April 17, within a period of 12 days.

The court noted that on April 6, Chopra sent a WhatsApp message to Manchanda, “Aap jaise doge mei sir ko boldugi. He told me kaam ho jaayega. (Whatever you pay, I will inform sir. He told me that work will be done)”. Manchanda replied, “Ok mam”.

Then, on April 8, Chopra forwarded Dahiya’s WhatsApp message to Manchanda, “Hi. Many payments approved. Will give total on Monday.”

The court commented, “If he (Dahiya) had nothing to do with the amount delivered to accused Poonam Chopra, it does not appeal to reason as to why he would report back the status of the bills submitted by the complainant (Manchanda) to Poonam Chopra.”

The court added that the messages as reproduced above “clearly show the complicity” of Dahiya and Chopra in the approval of the huge amount of the bills pertaining to Manchanda after the delivery of the initial amount of Rs 2 lakh to Chopra.

On April 11, Chopra forwarded Dahiya’s message to Manchanda, “9 lac pending. Rest cleared. These also by tomorrow.” She forwarded another message of Dahiya to Manchanda on the same day, “Money will take time as the HSDM is yet to get this year budget. But payment files have been cleared.”

The court said that the arrest of Dahiya “would unfold various facets of the whole episode and other associated matters”, whereas the grant of the anticipatory bail would “mean a blow to the ongoing investigation which would not proceed effectively”.