Mohali: Driver held in AIG Malwinder Singh Sidhu ‘fraud’ case

Mohali, February 20

The Punjab Vigilance Bureau (VB) on Tuesday arrested Kuldeep Singh, a driver in the Food, Civil Supplies and Consumer Affairs Department, Punjab, as his bail petition was dismissed by the SC.

A spokesperson of the state VB said Kuldeep was wanted in a case registered on October 30, 2023 at police station VB Flying Squad-1, Punjab, Mohali. He is a co-accused in a case related to Malwinder Singh Sidhu, Assistant Inspector General (AIG), Human Rights Cell, Punjab Police, who allegedly used to exploit their positions to commit fraud, blackmailing, extorting money and take illegal gratification from government employees.

In this case, two accused AIG Malwinder Singh Sidhu and Balbir Singh of Alampur village, Patiala district, have already been arrested.

The spokesperson said that AIG Sidhu reportedly used to initiate complaints against government employees, only to subsequently withdraw these in order to allegedly blackmail them and get illicit gains. But since 2017, he has never held positions of AIG or IG within the Vigilance Bureau.

He added that AIG Sidhu falsely identified himself as IG, Vigilance Bureau, to a data operator working at the office of Block Primary Education Officer, Rajpura, to obtain a photocopy of a government teacher’s service book.

“AIG Sidhu sent a written application to the Principal, Government Senior Secondary School, Ghanaur, besides one on the email ID of the school and another application through accused Kuldeep Singh and received record of a schoolteacher. In order to verify the records of these teachers taken from the school, he took the District Social Welfare Officer, Patiala, along to the school and tried to get the Principal to sign a two-page proforma, but the latter refused to sign on the,” he added.