A Faridkot court on Wednesday granted two-day custody of superintendent of police (SP) Gagnesh Kumar and his aide Jaswinder Singh to vigilance bureau in a ₹20-lakh bribery case.
Both had surrendered before the Punjab vigilance bureau at Ferozepur on Tuesday. Both the accused were evading arrest for the past eight months.
The VB produced both the accused in court of chief judicial magistrate Lavdeep Hundal on Wednesday and the court granted police custody of the accused till March 8.
On February 28, the Punjab and Haryana high court had dismissed the SP’s anticipatory bail application observing that his custodial interrogation was required to “unearth the entire modus operandi”.
The bribe was allegedly sought to “re-nominate a prime accused” in the murder case of Harka Das Dera deputy head Dayal Das, who was shot dead at Kot Sukhia village in Faridkot on November 7, 2019.
In June last year, then Faridkot SP (investigation) Gagnesh Kumar, then Faridkot deputy superintendent of police (DSP) Sushil Kumar, sub-inspector (SI) Khem Chand Prashar, who was posted as the RTI branch in-charge of Faridkot IG office, Jaswinder Singh of Faridkot city and Malkiat Das of Bir Sikhan Wala village in Faridkot were booked for allegedly taking a bribe of ₹20 lakh to “re-nominate the accused” in the murder case.
The VB had also submitted a proposal to the state government seeking a go-ahead to name IG Pardeep Kumar Yadav as an accused in the bribery case.
{{/usCountry}}The VB had also submitted a proposal to the state government seeking a go-ahead to name IG Pardeep Kumar Yadav as an accused in the bribery case.
{{/usCountry}}Vigilance had sent the proposal after the Faridkot court accepted Malkiat Das’s plea to turn approver in the case. Malkiat, after turning approver, provided details regarding the bribe paid to two police officers, which he claimed were collected from him on Yadav’s behalf. The VB is still waiting for the government sanction.