Haryana takes away two assignments from IAS officer booked for corruption, extortion

However, in the transfer and posting orders issued for seven IAS officers, state chief secretary Sanjeev Kaushal has not mentioned any reasons behind the move but added the posting orders of Dahiya will be issued later.

Official sources say the development took place after the ACB informed the state government about the matter by sending a copy of the first information report (FIR), which was registered on April 20. Dahiya and two others were booked under charges of conspiracy, extortion and under sections 7 and 7A of the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988.

In this case, the ACB had arrested a woman, Poonam Chopra, allegedly taking a bribe of Rs 3 lakh on April 20. Apart from Poonam, the ACB registered an FIR against Vijay Dahiya and Haryana Skill Development Mission’s chief skills officer (CSO) Deepak Sharma.

In this case, a Fatehabad resident, Rinku Manchanda, had lodged a complaint to the ACB. According to Manchanda, he has been running an educational institute for the past 10 years. Manchanda stated: “As a training partner of Haryana Skill Development Mission, I had provided training to poor children for computer, AC technician and beauty parlour.

For that I had to take a payment of nearly Rs 50 lakh from the department. For that payment I have been approaching the department for the past three years but nobody was listening to me.”

In the FIR, Manchanda alleged: “CSO Deepak Sharma demanded Rs 5 lakh as bribe to get the payment of my pending bills released. Then Deepak Sharma also told me that ‘if I want to get the payment of bills released early, then I should meet Poonam Chopra’ who is known to Vijay Dahiya and she will ensure the payment early’.”

Manchanda, who claimed that he had already given Rs 2 lakh to her, on April 20 approached the ACB officials to allege that Poonam Chopra was pressuring him for the remaining Rs 3 lakh bribe amount. Subsequently, the woman was arrested allegedly taking Rs 3 lakh as bribe.

Opposing anticipatory bail application of Dahiya in a local court, the ACB had mentioned that Manchanda had consented to pay the amount of Rs 5 lakh and he even paid the amount of Rs 2 lakh to Poonam Chopra. According to the ACB,
Poonam Chopra forwarded to Manchanda the WhatsApp messages of Vijay Dahiya “wherein it was stated that the payment files were cleared by him (Dahiya)”. “Said WhatsApp messages were sent by the applicant/accused (Dahiya) to Poonam Chopra. Poonam Chopra asked the complainant (Manchanda) to pay the remaining amount of Rs 3 lakh on 20.04.2023 itself and, in case of failure on his part to do so, she would ensure that the remaining bills are not sanctioned,” the ACB mentioned.

While referring to the interrogation of Poonam, the ACB said, “For the past four years, she was imparting training of plumber, electrician and data entry operator under the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojna and Dahiya — who was earlier director in the labour department — became known to her during the said period.”

According to the ACB, at the time of the raid on April 20, Poonam talked to Dahiya through WhatsApp call and “he stated that ‘she was late in coming’”. Then, the ACB claims, Poonam went to meet and converse with Dahiya along with the raiding party in Caffe Tonino, Madhya Marg, Sector 8, Chandigarh. In the course of interrogation, the ACB claims,
Dahiya “admitted that Poonam Chopra was known to him for a long time and he also admitted that he met her earlier”.

The ACB also claimed that “the bribe amount of Rs 13 lakh obtained by Dahiya through Deepak Sharma in the past is to be recovered adding the accused (Dahiya) is required to be interrogated intensely so that the layers of the conspiracy might be unfolded”.

On the other hand, Dahiya — through his counsel — sought his anticipatory bail stating “he has categoric apprehension that he may be arrested by the Anti-Corruption Bureau despite the fact that he is an innocent person”. Dahiya claimed that “he has nothing to do with the allegations contained in the complaint given by Mr. Rinku Manchanda”.
However, after hearing both parties, additional sessions judge Sunil Kumar-II dismissed the bail plea.