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VB’s DA case FIR reveals DIG Bhullar’s ‘staggering’ assets
The disproportionate assets (DA) cases registered against suspended Punjab Police DIG Harcharan Singh Bhullar by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and Punjab Vigilance Bureau reveal staggering details of the ‘alleged’ properties owned by the IPS officer, both in Punjab and abroad.
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The disproportionate assets (DA) cases registered against suspended Punjab Police DIG Harcharan Singh Bhullar by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and Punjab Vigilance Bureau reveal staggering details of the ‘alleged’ properties owned by the IPS officer, both in Punjab and abroad.
The VB FIR lists 20 commercial shops in Ludhiana and more than 50 other properties in Punjab and abroad, purportedly owned by the DIG. This is in addition to the CBI case, which mentions items such as ₹7.5 crore in cash, 2.5 kg of gold, and household material worth ₹2.5 crore seized during raids after Bhullar’s arrest on October 16 in a bribery case, along with a 50-acre farmhouse in Ludhiana. The CBI has also stated that it seized documents of nearly 50 immovable properties in the names of family members. HT has a copy of both FIRs.
The CBI had arrested Bhullar, who was serving as Ropar Range DIG, on October 16 along with a “middleman Krishanu Sharda” for allegedly accepting ₹5 lakh in a bribe from a scrap dealer, Akash Batta, who is also the complainant in the case. While ‘middleman’ Krishanu was arrested in Chandigarh, Bhullar was arrested from his office in Mohali a few minutes later.
Interestingly, both the probe agencies’ assets FIRs were registered within half an hour of each other on October 29. Perusal of both the FIRs reveals that whereas VB claimed to have mentioned “information received” at 10:35 am and sent a copy of the FIR to the court at 12 pm, the CBI FIR was registered at 12:30 pm.
The FIRs further reveal that whereas the VB case has been filed on the basis of information provided by AIG Flying Squad (Vigilance Bureau) Swarandeep Singh, the CBI case was registered on the complaint of Sonal Mishra, inspector, anti-corruption branch of CBI, who had written to seniors to register the DA case following big seizures made from Bhullar’s house following his arrest.
The VB has slapped Sections 13(1)(b) and 13(2) of the Prevention of Corruption Act-1988. CBI has also registered the case under the same sections and, in addition, has added Section 61(2) (criminal conspiracy) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) 2023.
With both probe agencies vying for Bhullar’s custody, the CBI on Monday told a Mohali court that VB’s DA case has been filed to ‘hinder’ the investigation being conducted by the federal agency.
“…the VB has filed a parallel FIR on identical allegations to frustrate the lawful and ongoing CBI investigation,” the CBI prosecutor said in response to the application filed by VB seeking production warrants from the court in the October 29 DA case registered by it.
Following submissions from both sides, Mohali chief judicial magistrate Megha Dhaliwal dismissed the VB’s application for granting Bhullar’s custody, observing that the officer is already in the custody of the CBI till November 6. The court also said that VB can seek Bhullar’s custody once CBI’s remand ends.
Amid high drama on November 1, wherein the lawyers of CBI and VB shuttled between Chandigarh and Mohali, a CBI court granted the federal agency five-day custody of Bhullar.
VB was in the Mohali court seeking Bhullar production warrants after claiming that it had made a formal arrest of the IPS officer after questioning him in Burail jail.
While granting custody to the accused, the CBI court said that in view of the huge data allegedly recovered from the DIG’s mobile phone, his police remand till November 6 is granted to carry out a fair and effective investigation “to trace the bribe money trail, identify the ultimate beneficiary and to confront him with the information revealed by his co-accused.”
