Accused of graft, former Ferozepur IG joins probe

Ishrat S Banwait

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, October 18

Two months after his name cropped up in a Rs 10-lakh bribe case, Inspector General of Police Gurinder Singh Dhillon has finally joined the probe. He visited the Chandigarh CBI office on Thursday, but did not stay there for long, it is learnt. The lone arrest in the case is an alleged middleman, Ashok Goyal, who was said to have accepted the money on behalf of Dhillon.

The then IGP, Ferozepur range, Dhillon, was transferred as the IG (Human Rights) in August, days after the case surfaced. A special investigation team (SIT), headed by Dhillon, is probing the 2012 patwari frame-up case, in which ex-SSP Shiv Kumar Sharma and five other police officials are accused. In the complaint dated August 13, Sharma had accused Goyal of demanding a bribe of Rs 22 lakh on Dhillon’s behalf to settle the case.

Goyal was arrested on August 16 for accepting Rs 10 lakh on behalf of Ferozepur range IGP Gurinder Dhillon. It was also alleged that the bribe was being demanded from the complainant for diluting the case and for returning the seized documents and articles. The Punjab and Haryana High Court had directed the CBI against adoption of “any coercive method” against Dhillon.

Patwari frame-up case

• Patwari Mohan Singh demanded Rs 20 as government fee from the then, SSP Shiv Kumar Sharma, for mutation of land at Rurki village in Fatehgarh Sahib in the name of Sharma’s son in November 2009.
• Offended, the SSP allegedly threatened to frame the patwari. Later, Mohan Singh was falsely implicated in a corruption case.
• In July 2012, an inquiry conducted by Kahan Singh Pannu, the then Principal Secretary to Chief Minister, indicted six police officials for misusing official powers to frame the patwari.
• The then CM ordered registration of criminal case against the then Moga SSP, Surjit Grewal, former Ferozepur SSP Jaspal Singh, former SSP Shiv Kumar Sharma (now retired), SP Banarasi Dass (retd), Inspector Isher Singh and the then VB joint director, Surinderpal Singh.