E-Paper
If released on bail, AIG Sidhu may threaten witnesses: Court
The court of Sandeep Kumar Singla, additional sessions judge, Mohali, further said, “Even if some persons have got jobs on the fake certificate, the accused cannot turn it into a lucrative business, as they are doing.”
Denying bail to suspended assistant inspector general (human rights) Malvinder Singh Sidhu, the local Mohali court observed that if released, he might threaten the witnesses or interfere with the investigation as many people have started coming forward to make complaints.
The court of Sandeep Kumar Singla, additional sessions judge, Mohali, further said, “Even if some persons have got jobs on the fake certificate, the accused cannot turn it into a lucrative business, as they are doing.”
Sidhu was arrested on November 4 by the vigilance bureau (VB) 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.
The court, in its order, stated that the accused had been getting service records and other documents of various persons from the departments by threatening and using his official position and then extorting money under the threat of making a complaint or withdrawing a complaint or delaying the proceedings in the complaint.
Meanwhile, Sidhu, in his plea, had accused senior vigilance officers of conniving against him and pressurising him to drop a case his daughter had registered against his son-in-law in 2021.
Sidhu alleged that allegations were levelled against him on the instructions of AIG Manmohan Sharma of the vigilance bureau (VB).
His plea further alleged that the VB officers were misusing their powers and pressurising him to not raise his voice against his son-in-law Harpreet Singh, IAS (allied), who got a job on the basis of a fake caste certificate.
“His (IAS officer’s) relatives’ headmaster Daljit Singh and ASI Randhir Singh also got their jobs on the basis of fake caste certificates. ASI Ranjit Singh, the reader to AIG Manmohan Sharma, got a job on compassionate grounds, and his caste is mentioned as Rajput. He helped Daljit Singh and Randhir Singh to get fake SC certificates,” Sidhu’s plea further said.
Sidhu added that Balbir Singh was a whistle-blower, who had filed complaints against Daljit Singh, ASI Ranjit Singh and ASI Randhir Singh on August 16, 2023, in which a show-cause notice was issued to them. Thereafter, ASI Ranjit Singh, using his influence in the vigilance bureau, registered the present FIR to create pressure upon them.
“Only those persons against whom the complaints were filed or their certificates were found to be fake, are making statements with the police,” Sidhu said in his plea.
VB had however alleged that Sidhu used to initiate complaints against government employees, only to subsequently withdraw these after blackmailing and in exchange for illicit gains.
