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CBI arrests 3 in ₹20-lakh bribery case linked to Punjab VB chief director
Trio manage to flee trap at Chandigarh hotel before being caught at Ambala border; chief director SS Chauhan’s reader OP Rana, the kingpin, remains at large.
Clearing the air over recent raids on the Punjab Vigilance and Anti-Corruption Bureau headquarters in Mohali, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Tuesday confirmed the arrest of three individuals in connection with a ₹20-lakh bribery case involving the state’s top anti-graft agency.
The CBI identified inspector OP Rana, the reader to chief director, Vigilance Bureau, and special DGP Sharad Satya Chauhan, as the central figure behind an extortion racket that allegedly leveraged his proximity to the bureau’s top brass.
The case was initiated following a complaint by a Punjab state tax officer, who alleged that middlemen Vikas, alias Vicky, Goyal and his son, Raghav Goyal, demanded the bribe to quash a complaint pending against him within the Vigilance director general’s office.
The CBI’s verification process confirmed the demand, revealing that the suspects eventually negotiated the payoff down to ₹13 lakh in cash plus a high-end Samsung Galaxy Z Fold7 mobile phone specifically intended for Rana.
During a sting operation conducted in Chandigarh on Monday, the CBI apprehended Ankit Wadhwa while he was allegedly accepting the delivery on behalf of the group. Raghav Goyal, Vikas Goyal, and Rana managed to flee the initial trap—believed to have been set at a five-star hotel—after being tipped off by surveillance gunmen.
A subsequent chase by CBI teams led to the capture of the Goyals and two gunmen near Ambala at the Punjab-Haryana border, though Rana managed to evade arrest and remains an absconder.
Raids conducted on properties in Malout and Chandigarh yielded an additional ₹9 lakh in cash along with incriminating documents that point toward a deeper conspiracy.
Preliminary findings by the CBI suggest that Rana was not only actively involved in the bribery case but was also leaking sensitive information regarding pending vigilance cases to private individuals.
A particularly alarming aspect of the investigation is the role of Punjab Police gunmen, armed with AK-47 rifles, who were purportedly providing protection to the private middlemen.
As the CBI continues to investigate the possibility of a wider nexus of illegal gratification involving other officials, the arrested suspects are being produced before a designated court in Chandigarh.
