Court denies bail to suspended Faridkot ASI in corruption case
A court denied bail for suspended ASI Bohar Singh, accused of bribery linked to a gangster, after claims of political vendetta emerged.
A court on Tuesday dismissed the anticipatory bail application of suspended assistant sub-inspector (ASI) Bohar Singh in a corruption case. Punjab Vidhan Sabha speaker Kultar Singh Sandhwan, during the assembly session on Monday, had accused the ASI of taking bribe from a gangster to hush up a case following which the Faridkot SSP had suspended the cop and a departmental inquiry was initiated against him.
ASI Bohar Singh, in his application before Faridkot additional sessions judge Dinesh Kumar Wadhwa, claimed that the complainant (gangster) in the corruption FIR is confidant of Sandhwan. “The complainant is a confidant of Kultar Singh Sandhwan and his brother Birinder Singh Sandhwan. Besides an FIR registered at the Kotkapura city police station in 2015, he is also accused in two FIRs registered in 2012 at the Faridkot city police station and Kotkapura sadar police station for an offence under Section 302 (murder) of the IPC,” the plea mentioned.
Last month, the Faridkot police had booked the ASI under the Prevention of Corruption Act for allegedly accepting ₹1.5 lakh as bribe from an accused in a sexual harassment case.
Anantdeep Singh, alias Roma, of Kotkapura had said that the Kotkapura police had registered the case of sexual harassment and illegal confinement against him in September 2015. In November 2015, the police filed a cancellation report but the court declined to accept that. Roma, said to be a close aide of absconding gangster Ranjit Singh Dupla, had alleged that ASI Bohar Singh assured him of getting the cancellation report admitted in the court with the help of senior police officers in return of ₹1.5 lakh. He alleged that after getting ₹1.5 lakh, Bohar Singh demanded ₹50,000 more from him.
In the bail application, ASI Bohar Singh said “A false case was registered against me at the behest of Kotkapura MLA Kultar Singh Sandhwan (Vidhan Sabha speaker) who wreaked vendetta as he had complained against his (speaker’s) brother Birinder Singh for abusing him on phone while he was on duty.”
The court also heard the recorded telephonic communication between Bohar Singh and speaker’s brother. An audio recording purportedly of Birinder allegedly abusing Bohar Singh on call had gone viral on social media in June.
“Birinder Singh Sandhwan is brother of Kultar Singh Sandhwan. He abused the applicant, threatened him of dire consequences and also threatened to get him posted at a remote place. By doing so, Birinder deterred the applicant in discharging his official duty. The applicant recorded the conversation and also recorded a DDR at the Faridkot sadar police station on June 12. Due to the political intervention of Sandhwan, the applicant was humiliated and transferred from the Faridkot sadar police station the same day in the late hours,” the plea stated.