SI caught taking Rs 50K bribe

Our Correspondent

Hoshiarpur, December 28

A team of the Vigilance Department here, led by DSP Dalbir Singh, arrested sub-inspector (SI) Sohan Lal, posted at the Chabbewal police station, while accepting a bribe of Rs 50,000.

As per information, a case was registered against Harminder Singh, a resident of Patti village, in an ongoing land dispute. He had applied for a reinquiry in the case, claiming his innocence, due to which the reinvestigation was handed over to the Garhshankar DSP.

Meanwhile, Harminder filed an anticipatory bail application in the Punjab and Haryana High Court. The court had granted him bail on December 18 and fixed January 31 as the next date for hearing, ordering him to join the investigation. On this, he contacted the investigating officer of the case sub-inspector Sohan Lal, posted as the Additional SHO of Chabbewal police station. In his complaint to the Vigilance Bureau, Harminder alleged that Sohan Lal had demanded Rs 1.65 lakh from him and pressured him to give the amount to get his name removed from the case. Afterwards, he met Sohan Lal and said he could not give so much money and the deal was finalised at Rs 1 lakh, of which Sohan Lal asked him to give Rs 50,000 in advance and to pay the balance amount after the work.

When Sohan Lal demanded the money, the complainant informed the Vigilance Bureau about the same. On Saturday, Harminder gave Rs 50,000 as bribe to the sub-inspector and as soon as he took the money, the team of the Vigilance Bureau arrested him red-handed and recovered the money from him. Later, the Vigilance team took the SI with them for questioning. A case under Section 7 of the Prevention of Corruption Act was registered against the suspect by the Vigilance Bureau.