Punjab DIG Arrested by CBI in Bribery Case; ₹5 Crore Cash, Luxury Cars, and Expensive Watches Seized

In a statement, the CBI said the officer, named Harcharan Singh Bhullar, was arrested along with a private existent in a graft charges case involving a cash seizure of ₹ 8 lakh. The officer was also “demanding” a “monthly remuneration” from the complainant, it added.

Mr. Bhullar, who was the Punjab DIG, Ropar Range, Punjab, had allegedly asked for the bribery case through a middleman so as to “settle” an FIR against the complainant and so that no coercive or adverse action was taken by the police against the person’s business.

“The CBI registered a corruption case on October 16 against the accused public servant and his associate for demanding ₹8 lakh and further illegal payments to be made on a regular monthly basis for looking into the matter and favouring the complainant. The middleman was caught red-handed while receiving ₹8 lakh from the complainant in favour of the accused police officer,” the agency’s statement said.

Post the arrests, the CBI teams had carried out searches at multiple locations belonging to the officer in Punjab and Chandigarh. As per officials, the searches led to the recovery of about ₹5 crore in cash, documents pertaining to various immovable properties and other incriminating materials from his house. The seized material also included about 1.5 kg of jewellery, keys of two luxury cars (a Mercedes and Audi), 22 luxury watches, locker keys, 40 litres of imported liquor, a double-barrel gun, pistol, revolver, air gun and ammunition.

“Both the accused have been arrested and would be produced before the concerned court on October 17. The searches and investigation are in progress,” the CBI statement further read.