Arrested IAS officer sent to four-day police custody in Faridabad

Tribune News Service

Faridabad, May 16

A local court in Faridabad sent IAS officer Dharmender Singh to four days police custody today. He was arrested from Gurugram on Monday in connection with a corruption case registered here last year.

Dharmender Singh, Additional Resident Commissioner at Haryana Bhawan, Delhi, was nabbed after a Special Investigation Team (SIT) found his involvement in a case in which a bribe of Rs 1.10 crore allegedly exchanged hands last year.

A case was registered at the Kotwali police station here in June last year in response to a complaint lodged by a Delhi resident. He had charged that the bribe was taken in the name of providing him a major contract, for which an enhancement in the tender cost was found to be done. The project was in Sonepat, where Dharmender Singh was posted as the Commissioner, Municipal Corporation, at that time.

A probe launched last year had led to the arrest of three persons earlier.

Stating the alleged involvement of certain officials and employees, including the Commissioner of Municipal Corporation, Sonepat, in the bribery case, a police official said more revelations were likely during the ongoing interrogation by the SIT, led by an official of the ACP rank.

Stating that the bribe from the complainant was taken for enhancing the building project cost from Rs 52.70 crore to Rs 87.85 crore, he said a case was registered under the Prevention of Corruption Act in June 2022 after the complainant failed to get favour or his money back for the work he was promised. The probe has reportedly found that the bribe was taken through a broker, identified as Rambir, last year for giving undue advantage to the contractor.

Became HCS officer in 1999

• Dharmender Singh hails from an influential political family as he is son-in-law of former minister and ex-MLA from Dadri, Satpal Sangwan. Sangwan was a minister in the Bansi Lal Cabinet in the mid-nineties
• He got selected in the HCS in 1999 and was promoted to IAS in 2012. He served on several assignments, including Administrator, HSVP, Faridabad; Panipat DC and Commissioner, Municipal Corporation, Sonepat, prior to his present posting
• “Dharmender Singh was known as sober officer, but his name surfacing in a corruption case is hardly to be believed,” said an officer, demanding a fair probe into the matter

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