Chandigarh: CBI to probe role of senior Haryana cops in facilitating extortion accused

Complainant Jagbir Singh alleged that he was coerced into purchasing materials by the accused, Vinay Aggarwal, who was posing as a high-ranking Intelligence Bureau (IB) official. The other accused in the case are Dr Komal Khanna of Sector 20, Panchkula, Nishant Sareen of Sector 30, Chandigarh, and Sanjeev Aggarwal of Sonepat

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Tuesday registered a case to probe the role of senior Haryana Police officials in facilitating an extortion racket in the states of Himachal Pradesh and Haryana.

According to the FIR,several police officials and state functionaries of the Haryana Police had been accompanying the accused posing as an IB official. (HT Photo)

The case pertains to an FIR registered in Himachal Pradesh in October 2022 in which the complainant, Jagbir Singh, a director of Symbiosis Pharmaceutical Pvt. Ltd. and Saitech Medicare Pvt. Ltd, had alleged that he was coerced into purchasing materials by the accused, Vinay Aggarwal, who was posing as a high-ranking Intelligence Bureau (IB) official.

The other accused in the case are Dr Komal Khanna of Sector 20, Panchkula, Nishant Sareen of Sector 30, Chandigarh, and Sanjeev Aggarwal of Sonepat.

It was further mentioned in the FIR that several police officials and state functionaries of the Haryana Police had been accompanying the accused posing as an IB official.

Extortion during Covid period

The complainant alleged that he was forced to purchase materials from Sanjeev Aggarwal’s (Vinay Aggarwal’s relative) companies and supplying products to Zenith Biotech. Furthermore, during the Covid-19 pandemic in March 2020, Aggarwal, accompanied by armed men, demanded sanitisers from him and threatened of dire consequences if he refused. Under duress, Singh supplied the sanitisers and transferred funds amounting to ₹1.49 crore to Aggarwal’s account.

The complaint further alleges that Nishant Sareen, who was an assistant drugs controller in Himachal Pradesh introduced him to Dr Komal Khanna under the pretext of forming a business partnership. However, this partnership led to financial disputes, with Dr Khanna allegedly forging documents to claim a 95% share in the business, reducing Singh’s stake to 5%. Dr. Khanna is accused of forging Singh’s signature on an affidavit presented to the senior drug control officer, Ambala Zone.

Singh also alleges that Aggarwal, in collusion with Dr Khanna and Sareen, continuously threatened him to withdraw all complaints against them. Aggarwal allegedly used his purported government connections to intimidate Singh, including false legal actions against him and his companies.

Petition seeking transfer of case to CBI

In May 2024, the complainant filed a petition seeking transfer of the investigation to the CBI or any other independent agency. He alleged continuous harassment by the local police, who were pressuring him to withdraw the cases he had registered against the accused persons. The petitioner alleged that the local police were using various tactics, including the formation of a Special Investigation Team (SIT), to coerce him into withdrawing his case. The SIT was perceived as an attempt to derail the investigation and protect senior police officials allegedly involved in the conspiracy.

‘Role of senior police officials’

On the allegations that Haryana cops were accompanying Vinay Aggarwal, who was posing as a senior IB official, the court observed: “The involvement of three Haryana Police officials, who were neither on leave nor present at their official posting state, Haryana, when they were alleged to have been accompanying Vinay Aggarwal in Himachal, raises serious concerns about possible patronage from high-ranking police officials of Haryana. It is both shocking and very strange that these police officials, attached to senior police officials in Haryana, were openly accompanying accused Vinay Aggarwal outside Haryana,” observed court.

Earlier, probe had revealed some photographs have also been shown by the investigating agency to contend that Haryana Police vehicles used to be part of Vinay Agganwal’s convoy to facilitate him in extorting money from industrialists of Himachal Pradesh.

The Punjab and Haryana high court in 2024 transferre