E-Paper
Court denies bail to AIG Malvinder Sidhu
State vigilance had registered a case against Sidhu, and two others for allegedly exploiting their positions to commit fraud, extort money and take bribes from government employees
Local court on Monday denied bail to suspended assistant inspector general (human rights) Malvinder Singh Sidhu who was arrested by the vigilance bureau (VB) earlier this month for allegedly extorting money from government employees.
State vigilance had registered a case against Sidhu, and two others for allegedly exploiting their positions to commit fraud, extort money and take bribes from government employees.
His accomplices were identified as Kuldeep Singh, a driver from the food, civil supplies and consumer affairs department, and Balbir Singh, a resident of Alampur village in Patiala district.
After AIG submitted a bail application in the court of Sandeep Kumar Singla, additional district and sessions judge on November 14, the court had asked the VB to file its reply. Submitting its reply, the state opposed the bail of the accused on November 17 following which the court on Monday denied bail to Malvinder Singh.
A VB spokesperson had alleged that Sidhu used to initiate complaints against government employees, only to subsequently withdraw these complaints in the process of blackmailing and in exchange for illicit gains.
“On the basis of a vigilance inquiry dated October 6, 2023, the VB has taken stringent legal measures, leading to the registration of FIR dated October 30, 2023 against all the three accused under Sections 7 and 7-A of the Prevention of Corruption Act and Sections 384, 419, 420, and 120-B of the Indian Penal Code at police station, vigilance bureau, flying squad-1, Punjab, Mohali,” he said.
The spokesperson said that during the investigation, it was found that Sidhu, serving as AIG (human rights), since 2017, has not held the positions of AIG or IG in VB, Punjab, over the past five years. He said that the investigation uncovered instances where AIG Sidhu falsely identified himself as the IG, Vigilance Bureau, Punjab, to a data operator working at the office of Block Primary Education Officer, Rajpura.
“Sidhu, using this deceptive identity, obtained a photocopy of a government teacher’s service book and took photographs of the initial page using his mobile phone,” the VB said in a press release.
The spokesperson further claimed that Sidhu, dishonestly mentioned himself as AIG/IG of the vigilance bureau, in connivance with Balbir Singh, in the departments of Scheduled Castes and freedom fighters thereby procured records of several individuals, only to later initiate complaints against them, blackmailing them and extracting bribes in exchange for retracting these complaints.
