Punjab Vigilance bribery case: CBI gets 3-day custody of accused, cites WhatsApp chats to show ‘active involvement in conspiracy’
Raghav Goyal and Vikas Goyal allegedly demanded undue advantage from the complainant on behalf of the absconding accused O P Rana and other senior officials of the Punjab Vigilance Bureau.
The accused at a special CBI court in Chandigarh (Express photo). A special Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) court in Chandigarh Tuesday granted three-day police remand of the accused Raghav Goyal and Vikas Goyal alias Vicky Goyal <strongin the Vigilance Bureau bribery case.
This was after the central agency claimed that incriminating WhatsApp chats recovered from Raghav Goyal’s mobile phone revealed “sustained communication” with absconding accused O P Rana, Reader to the DGP (Vigilance), Punjab, “clearly indicating active involvement of accused O.P. Rana in the criminal conspiracy”.
The court of Bhawna Jain, Additional District and Sessions Judge, also sent co-accused Ankit Wadhwa to 14-day judicial custody.
In its remand application, the CBI through its counsel, Public Prosecutor Narender Singh, submitted that the FIR was registered on May 11 under Section 61(2) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita and Sections 7 and 7A of the Prevention of Corruption Act against Rana, Raghav Goyal, Vikas Goyal and other unknown people based on a complaint submitted by Amit Kumar, a state tax officer posted at Malout.
The agency told the court that during verification conducted before registration of the FIR, “allegations regarding demand of illegal gratification and criminal conspiracy involving private intermediaries acting on behalf of public servants were prima facie substantiated through recorded conversations and other corroborative material collected during verification proceedings”.
According to the CBI, the investigation revealed that accused Raghav Goyal and Vikas Goyal “demanded undue advantage from the complainant on behalf of accused O P Rana and other senior officials of Punjab Vigilance Bureau for securing closure/settlement of a vigilance complaint pending against the complainant”.
Referring to the trap proceedings conducted on May 11, the agency’s counsel informed the court that co-accused Ankit Wadhwa “was apprehended while accepting illegal gratification amounting to Rs 13,00,000 along with one Samsung Galaxy Z Fold-7 mobile phone from the complainant on the directions of accused Raghav Goyal”.
The agency stated that the tainted bribe amount and mobile phone were recovered from his possession in the presence of independent witnesses.
Custody to unearth larger conspiracy
Seeking custodial interrogation, it argued that police custody was “indispensable” to “unearth the larger criminal conspiracy and ascertain the complete nexus between private middlemen and public servants involved in the commission of the offence”, identify the “ultimate beneficiaries” and trace the complete money trail relating to the alleged illegal gratification.
The agency further sought custody to ascertain the role of other public servants and private persons, apprehend absconding accused Rana, recover further incriminating digital and documentary evidence, including mobile devices, chats and electronic data, obtain specimen voice samples and confront the accused with documentary and digital evidence already collected during the investigation.
The agency also submitted that the investigation was at a “nascent and highly sensitive stage” and alleged that if not remanded to police custody, the accused could influence witnesses, destroy evidence or tamper with digital records. On hearing the arguments, the court allowed the accused’s remand.
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