Lawyer gets two-day Vigilance custody for ‘brokering’ deal

Sub-Divisional Judicial Magistrate (SDJM) Lalit Kumar Singla has directed the VB to produce the accused,Neeraj Chaudhary,before the court again on Monday.

Chaudhary was arrested on late Friday night after VB sleuths allegedly caught him red-handed accepting bribe from NRI Devinder Singh’s father.

The lawyer had reportedly assured the NRI of getting cancelled an abduction case registered against him in Mohali on April 2,the VB submitted before the court.

The prosecution submitted that Devinder and his unidentified accomplices were booked on charges of abduction after a Chandigarh Block Samiti member and leading realtor Gurmail Singh,husband of Khuda Ali Sher (Chandigarh) sarpanch Bhupinder Kaur,was abducted from outside the District Administrative Complex in Phase I,Mohali,on April 2.

In a recent intimation to the VB,Devinder claimed that he had approached Chaudhary to get him absolved of charges in the abduction case.

Believed to be close to the Mohali SP supervising the abduction case,Devinder alleged that Chaudhary demanded bribe for getting the case cancelled.

While the deal was clinched at Rs 10 lakh,Devinder allegedly paid Chaudhary Rs 2.5 lakh as the first installment. When the case against him was not cancelled,Devinder approached Chaudhary,who,he alleged,demanded the full and final payment in advance before getting the case cancelled. Not satisfied with the reply,Devinder asked Chaudhary to return the Rs 2.5 lakh he had paid him earlier,to which the lawyer replied that the amount had already been paid to the SP.

On being approached by Devinder,the VB laid a trap to nab the accused.

Chaudhary was called on Friday night to Sector 34,Chandigarh,where Devinder’s father was to pay him Rs 2 lakh. It was while the transaction was taking place that VB sleuths reportedly swooped on Chaudhary and caught him “red-handed”.

Strongly opposing the prosecution’s plea,the defence counsel refuted the allegations made against Chaudhary and claimed that he was “framed” for ulterior motives.