Bribery case: CBI probe exposes flaws in the way UT Police functions

The bribe, CBI officers said, had allegedly been demanded by the two Chandigarh policemen — identified as Inspector Harinder Singh Sekhon and Constable Pawan Kumar — to clear the name of one Deepak, for allegedly being involved in an extortion racket being run by the Lawrence Bishnoi gang.

As per details, Deepak’s case was being investigated by the Operations Cell, an independent wing to curb anti-terrorist and organized crimes in the city.

An officer involved in the investigations said, “The PCR division and the Operations Cell are two different wings. Constable Pawan belonged to the PCR wing. He was not supposed to know about the interrogation of two accused who had been arrested in an extortion racket and had subsequently named Deepak as their aide during the course of their interrogation. According to the statement of Deepak to the CBI, on July 22 and July 27, when he went to the Operations Cell office in Sector 26, he saw constable Pawan with Inspector Harinder Singh Sekhon present there.

The Operations Cell and the PCR wing are supervised by two different officers.”

As per the complaint filed by Deepak, the two policemen asked for a bribe of Rs 7 lakh to clear his name from the extortion case. The amount was later negotiated down to Rs 3 lakh. Two people, Manish Dubey, brother of Chandigarh BJP leader Anil Dubey, and Anil Kumar ‘Kuki’ were arrested on Monday night for accepting the bribe amount.

An officer privy to the CBI investigations said, “Constable Pawan is currently on the run. The interrogation of Pawan is necessary to ascertain how he came to know about the fact that the name of Deepak cropped up in the course of investigation of the extortion racket being conducted by the Operations Cell. The CBI will also procure the documents related to the extortion case in which the name of Deepak has surfaced.”

A CBI officer said that Constable Pawan, who was suspended from duty on Tuesday, was on the run currently with raids being conducted to nab him.

Inspector Harinder Singh Sekhon, who is the in-charge of the Operations Cell, has been sent to the police lines in Sector 26 on Tuesday. He has been asked to join the CBI probe.

A source in Chandigarh Police also said that Constable Pawan was not new to controversies, and in 2020 he had been booked and suspended for allegedly demanding a bribe from some liquor contractors.

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