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Police inspector arrested in Chandigarh house grab case
Probing into the Sector-37 house grab case, the special investigation team (SIT) on Friday arrested Chandigarh Police inspector Rajdeep Singh
Probing into the Sector-37 house grab case, the special investigation team (SIT) on Friday arrested Chandigarh Police inspector Rajdeep Singh.
Posted as the station house officer in Sector 39 at the time of the incident, he is accused of inaction. The SIT had summoned him to join the investigations, following which he was arrested.
This is the fourth arrest in the case after journalist Sanjiv Mahajan, realtor Manish Gupta and Satpal Dagar, brother of deputy superintendent of police Ram Gopal, were arrested last week.
Meanwhile, the SIT after questioning the DSP has ruled out his involvement in the case.
Police last week booked around 10 people, including slain bouncer Surjit Singh, for kidnapping and torturing Rahul Mehta, the sole heir of his family, in April 2017 to secure the general power of attorney of his 338-square-yard house and selling it to Manish Gupta’s brother for ₹2.9 crore in March 2019.
The FIR mentioned that inspector Rajdeep Singh had failed to take action on a complaint filed against Sanjeev Mahajan, Surjit Singh and Shekhar, who had forcibly occupied Mehta’s house.
“No one whose involvement is found in the case will be spared,” said Kuldeep Singh Chahal, senior superintendent of police, Chandigarh.
Rajdeep was a part of the conspiracy and was aware of the house grab and treatment meted out to Mehta by the accused, said a senior police official privy to the investigations. He will be produced in court on Saturday. Meanwhile, Manish Gupta’s bail plea was dismissed on Friday. The SIT is also considering to bring Mahajan, Gupta and Dagar back for investigations on production warrants. They are presently in judicial custody.
What the tenant alleged
The case was registered after probe into the complaint submitted by Mehta’s tenant Pradeep Ratan to the SSP’s office back in 2019. According to Ratan, he had approached the Sector-39 police station in 2017 as well, but its SHO, Rajdeep, took no action.
According to his complaint, Mehta was not keeping well and bouncer Surjit along with Sanjeev Mahajan and Shekhar had occupied his house. He had also accused them of assaulting and throwing him out of the house.
Ratan alleged that the trio had reached the police station and abused him in front of inspector Rajdeep. They allegedly also threatened him to stay away from the house. Ratan further alleged that a health certificate regarding Mehta’s mental health, which was attached with his complaint, was removed by the SHO, who kept it in his pocket.
After some time, the complainant come to know that Mehta was missing from his house. According to the probe, Surjit had left Mehta at a stud farm in Bhuj, Gujarat, from where the victim was moved from one ashram to the other before being brought back by police recently.
Was suspended in another case
Inspector Rajdeep Singh was placed under suspension and sent to the police lines in October last year. Posted with the VIP security wing, he had allegedly submitted a fake medical certificate to avoid election duty in Haryana bypolls. A departmental inquiry was also ordered.
He was later moved to the traffic wing. After his stint as the SHO in Sector 39, when the house grab took place, he had also served in the same position at the police station in Sector 31.
