E-Paper
Ludhiana: ASI caught red-handed accepting bribe
ASI Baljit Singh, who is deputed at Sarabha Nagar police station, was allegedly accepting ₹5,000 bribe from a Kotkapura resident for returning the items that had been stolen from his relatives’ house and later recovered by the police.
In a major embarrassment to the Ludhiana police, an assistant sub-inspector (ASI) was arrested by the vigilance bureau on graft charges on Tuesday. ASI Baljit Singh, who is deputed at Sarabha Nagar police station, was allegedly accepting ₹5,000 bribe from a Kotkapura resident for returning the items that had been stolen from his relatives’ house and later recovered by the police.
Complainant Baljit Singh said his maternal aunt Nirmal Singh and her husband Shamsher Singh, who are settled in England, own a house in Rajguru Nagar. They have appointed Gurmeet Singh of Jodhan village as the security guard of the house.
On March 16, Gurmeet Singh informed him that someone had stolen valuables from the house. He suspected that one of his relatives, Gurpreet Singh alias Balkar Singh of Rajguru Nagar, was behind the theft and lodged an FIR at Sarabha Nagar police station on March 17. Police had arrested Gurpreet and recovered the stolen material from his possession.
The complainant stated that he approached ASI Baljit Singh for recovery of the stolen material on March 22. The ASI demanded ₹7,000 bribe to handover the material to him. The deal was cracked at ₹5,000. As he did not want to pay the bribe, Baljit made a complaint to the vigilance bureau.
Senior superintendent of police (SSP, vigilance bureau) Rupinder Singh said the vigilance bureau laid a trap and caught the ASI red-handed. The bribe money was also recovered from his possession. A case under Sections 7 of Prevention of Corruption Act has been registered against the accused. He will be produced in the court on Wednesday.
