New Delhi: The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) arrested three middlemen, including a father-son duo, late Monday for allegedly facilitating bribes to senior Punjab Vigilance Bureau officials, an agency spokesperson said Tuesday.
The arrests followed a complaint by a Punjab tax official, who alleged that O.P. Rana, reader to vigilance bureau chief Sharad Satya Chauhan, sought a Rs 20 lakh bribe from him. The bribe was sought to close a case against the tax official that was pending before Chauhan.
The arrested father-son duo, Vikas alias Vicky Goyal and his son Raghav Goyal, and another person, Ankit Wadhwa, negotiated the bribe on behalf of Rana, the CBI spokesperson said. Raghav Goyal is a member of the Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha (BJYM), the youth wing of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), in Malout.
The bribe amount was eventually negotiated down from Rs 20 lakh to Rs 13 lakh in cash, with a Samsung Galaxy Z Fold7 smartphone promised along with it.
The CBI, following the tax official’s allegations, laid a trap in Chandigarh, leading to the arrest of Wadhwa while he was accepting the negotiated bribes.
However, gunmen conducting surveillance near the spot alerted the Goyals and O.P. Rana, and they fled, the CBI spokesperson said. After a chase, the two gunmen and the Goyals were apprehended near Ambala at the Punjab-Haryana border. Rana is still absconding, and the CBI is looking to arrest him.
“Investigation conducted so far, prima facie reveals active involvement of accused O.P. Rana, reader to DGP Vigilance, Punjab, in the conspiracy,” the spokesperson said.
According to the spokesperson, the role of the gunmen—two Punjab Police personnel armed with AK-47 rifles—is now under investigation.
After nabbing three of the accused, the CBI raided their premises in Malout and Chandigarh. Several of Raghav Goyal’s photographs with senior national level and state leaders of the BJP went viral on social media after his arrest. The Goyals’ residence in Malout was also raided by the agency. Additionally, a CBI team collected evidence from the headquarters of the Punjab Vigilance Bureau in Chandigarh.
All three arrested accused were produced before a Special CBI court in Chandigarh Tuesday, which remanded them to CBI custody till 15 May.
The searches at the vigilance bureau continued into Tuesday.
So far, the CBI has recovered Rs nine lakh and incriminating documents suggesting an exchange of sensitive information relating to pending vigilance matters between Rana and the Goyals, the agency spokesperson said.
The CBI’s searches, including at the vigilance bureau’s headquarters, has drawn sharp reactions from opposition parties.
Bikram Singh Majithia and Partap Singh Bajwa questioned the Bhagwant Mann-led government over corruption in the state. Majithia even claimed that the vigilance chief, Chauhan, had gone missing after the raid.
However, Chauhan reached his office Tuesday and answered the press’s questions.
“A private individual has been caught. Whatever investigation CBI does, we will fully cooperate and let the law take its own course,” Chauhan told reporters.
On the question of allegations against Rana and his whereabouts, Chauhan said, “How shall I know? You ask the investigating agency.”
Monday’s action by the CBI came nearly six months after the agency arrested a serving Punjab Police Deputy Inspector General-rank officer in a similar case of seeking bribes to settle a criminal case against a scrap dealer. The officer, Harcharan Singh Bhullar, was arrested at his office in Mohali, and Rs five crore in cash and 1.5 kg of gold were recovered from his premises. He remains in judicial custody.
(Edited by Madhurita Goswami)
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