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VB arrests AIG Ashish Kapoor for taking bribe of ₹1 crore
The Punjab vigilance bureau on Thursday arrested assistant inspector general of police (AIG) Ashish Kapoor, a PPS officer now posted as commandant, 4th IRB, Pathankot, for taking a bribe of ₹1 crore through different cheques
The Punjab vigilance bureau on Thursday arrested assistant inspector general of police (AIG) Ashish Kapoor, a PPS officer now posted as commandant, 4th IRB, Pathankot, for taking a bribe of ₹1 crore through different cheques.
Deputy superintendent of police, intelligence, Pawan Kumar and assistant sub-inspector (ASI) Harjinder Singh have also been named accused in the case.
Kapoor was arrested when he was called by the vigilance bureau for questioning in a case registered by his estranged girlfriend.
The spokesperson revealed that during his posting as Amritsar central jail superintendent, in 2016, Kapoor had got acquainted with a woman inmate, Poonam Rajan of Sector 30, Kurukshetra, who was in judicial remand in a case. Poonam, along with her mother Prem Lata, brother Kuldeep Singh and sister-in-law Preeti, was also in police remand in a cheating case registered at Zirakpur police station. Kapoor went to the police station and fraudulently convinced Poonam’s mother Prem Lata to help her get bail and acquittal from the court. Kapoor, in connivance with Pawan Kumar, the then SHO of Zirakpur police station, and ASI Harjinder Singh got Preeti declared innocent in the case. In lieu of that favour, Kapoor obtained signatures of Prem Lata on different cheques amounting to ₹1 crore and deposited them under the names of his known people and got them encashed through ASI Harjinder Singh.
The vigilance spokesperson said that the three cops have been booked under Prevention of Corruption Act and Sections 420 (cheating), 120-B (criminal conspiracy) of the Indian Penal Code. Pawan is currently posted as DSP intelligence. VB had taken the measurement of his house and also videographed the building in Sector 88 of Mohali in August.
Blue-eyed boy of senior cops
Kapoor, who was posted in the vigilance bureau during the Congress regime, is known to be a blue-eyed boy of senior officials at the helm back then. Due to this, almost all important cases landed with him for probe. He has supervised many high-profile cases, including the multi-crore irrigation scam.
Name had cropped up in forest scam
Kapoor’s name had recently cropped up in the forest scam, in which senior officials of the forest department and two former forest ministers have been booked. Kapoor is said to have conducted a probe into allegations of corruption in the forest department during the Congress regime.
