Held by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in a bribery case with the recovery of over Rs 7 crore from his residence, suspended Ropar range DIG Harcharan Singh Bhullar was booked in another case on Saturday by the Khanna police.
An FIR was registered at the Samrala police station against Bhullar on the CBI’s complaint-cum-report for the recovery of liquor bottles from his farmhouse at Samrala in Ludhiana district. The FIR was registered against the IPS officer under sections 61/1/14 of the Excise Act.
While confirming the development, Satinder Singh, DIG, Ferozepur range, said liquor bottles were recovered from his farmhouse during searches held on Thursday.
An officer from the Khanna police said, “The FIR has been registered on the complaint of a CBI inspector. The CBI in its report said that 108 liquor bottles worth nearly Rs 3 lakh were recovered from the officer’s farmhouse near Dayalpura in Samrala. The officer was allegedly in possession of the liquor without a licence. However, the probe will be conducted by excise officials in coordination with the CBI. We were only told to register the FIR, which has been done.”
A 2009-batch IPS officer, Bhullar was arrested by the CBI on Thursday in a bribery case. The investigation agency said in a statement that “the officer was caught while demanding and accepting illegal gratification from a businessman through his associate for settling an FIR registered against the complainant”.
The CBI statement said that recoveries from the officer’s residence in Chandigarh included cash amounting to approximately Rs 7.5 crore, gold jewellery weighing 2.5 kg, 26 luxury watches, documents pertaining to more than 50 immovable properties held in the name of family members and suspected benami entities, and four firearms along with 100 live cartridges.
The CBI added that the recoveries from Samrala farmhouse included 108 bottles of liquor, cash amounting to Rs 5.7 lakh, and 17 live cartridges.
