‘Possibility of bigger scam, charges serious’: Punjab officer whose arrest led to strike denied bail

After Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann issued an order directing them to either rejoin work or face suspension, the PCS officers ended their strike.

The FIR against Dhaliwal was registered on the basis of video clips secretly recorded and submitted to the bureau by Dhawan. In one of the clips, home guard Bahadar Singh, who was attached with Dhaliwal, is purportedly heard saying that he used to collect bribes on the officer’s behalf from transporters and hand them over every month.

The bureau has said it found that in December 2022, Singh had collected a Rs 4-lakh bribe from transporters. According to the FIR, while Dhaliwal kept Rs 1.7 lakh of it with himself, he gave the rest to Singh. The bureau also claims that Singh has produced the Rs 2.30 lakh before it.

In his bail application, Dhaliwal submitted that he was “falsely implicated” and that the complainant (Dhawan) had a criminal background. “He is facing criminal cases and an FIR dated 18.01.2021 under the sections 384, 506 and 34 of the IPC was registered at the Khanna Sadar police station on the complaint of Harmanjit Singh, an employee of the Khanna RTO,” he said.

Dhaliwal further submitted that all employees of the Ludhiana RTA had complained to the police commissioner against Dhawan that he had been “blackmailing and harassing them”.

Dismissing Dhaliwal’s bail application, special judge Dr Ajit Atri said that his counsel’s arguments about the complainants antecedents would not help his case that he was being falsely implicated, stating that even if there might be some complaints against Dhawan, it would not make him always untrustworthy.

“The said FIR (against Dhawan) has been stayed by the Hon’ble high court. [The] complaints made by employees of the Regional Transport Authority against the complainant also do not help the applicant for the reason that a detailed inquiry has been conducted before registration of the FIR [against Dhaliwal],” the judge said in his order.

The judge said there was nothing to suggest that Dhawan could influence everyone and get such an FIR registered against Dhaliwal. “From the detailed inquiry conducted in the case before the registration of the FIR and the statements of witnesses recorded, the specific role of the applicant has come on the file,” he said.

The judge further said that the investigation was at a “very initial stage” and that the prosecution had even in its status report expressed the fear that witnesses might be threatened or the investigation influenced if Dhaliwal got bail.

“In view of the serious allegations against the applicant, the apprehension of the prosecution is not wholly misplaced. There is every possibility that with the progress of investigation, more accused can be arrested because there seems to be the possibility of a much bigger scam than it looks [like] at this stage,” the judge said.

The court thus held that “in view of the gravity of the offence”, Dhaliwal was not entitled to regular bail.