New Delhi: The CBI Thursday arrested Punjab Police Deputy Inspector General Harcharan Singh Bhullar for allegedly demanding Rs 8 lakh bribe from a businessman. The agency said it also recovered Rs 5 crore in cash and 1.5 kg gold from his premises.
A middleman, named Kirshanu, who allegedly collected the bribe on behalf of Bhullar, has also been arrested by the CBI from sector 21 of Chandigarh.
An agency spokesman said Bhullar, who is posted in the Rupnagar range, allegedly demanded a bribe of Rs 8 lakh from a Fatehgarh Sahib-based scrap dealer.
Bhullar also earlier headed the Special Investigation Team (SIT) that probed drugs case against SAD leader Bikram Singh Majithia. He was appointed as the SIT chief in January 2024 and continued at the post till April this year.
He said that during the ongoing raids at premises linked to the police officer, the agency has already recovered cash amounting to Rs 5 crore, along with 1.5 kg gold, keys of two cars of luxury brands Mercedes and Audi, as well as 40 bottles of imported liquor.
From the middleman also, the agency recovered cash amounting to Rs 21 lakh. Sources said that a currency counting machine has been brought in to tally the cash haul during the searches. The counting of notes recovered during the raid was underway till the time of publishing.
Bhullar, one of the two sons of former Punjab DGP Mehal Singh Bhullar, joined the Punjab Police in 1993-94 as a deputy superintendent of police, and was promoted to the Indian Police Service in 2016. He held several key positions in the state.
The arrest took place days after the central agency received a complaint from the scrap dealer that Bhullar had demanded a bribe in exchange for no action in a criminal case against him. Additionally, it was alleged that Bhullar sought a monthly recurring bribe to allow the businessman to continue the scrap business in his hometown without police interference.
The complainant was facing a probe in a case registered in 2023 at the Sirhind police station under the Fatehgarh Sahib Police district, which comes under the jurisdiction of the Rupnagar Police range.
The sources in the agency said that Bhullar and Kirshanu would be produced before a special CBI court in Chandigarh Friday, when his custody will be sought.
‘Sewa paani‘
The complainant wrote to the CBI on 11 October, claiming Bhullar threatened him with a criminal case in a business-related matter if he failed to meet his demands for a bribe.
To collect the bribe amount, Bhullar allegedly employed Krishanu, who is also known to the complainant. A recording of his purported WhatsApp call with Bhullar led the agency to the senior police officer posted in Rupnagar police range since November last year.
In his complaint, the businessman had also alleged that Bhullar got “angry” during a meeting last month asking why he was not responding to his messages sent through the middleman.
The recording of the purported WhatsApp call between Bhullar and the middleman corroborated the complainant’s version, the CBI documented in the FIR.
Additionally, the phone number used by the middlemen for calling also belonged to DIG Bhullar, according to the FIR. Later, a “controlled-call” was made to Bhullar, who acknowledged the payment of bribe, along with instructing both the complainant and the middleman to come to his office, a CBI spokesman said Thursday.
“During the verification on 11.10.2025 at Sector 9-D Market, Chandigarh, a recorded WhatsApp call from middleman Kirshanu to the public servant captured DIG Bhullar instructing, ‘8 fadne ne 8’ and then ‘Jinna denda nal nal fadi chal, ohnu kehde 8 kar de pura’, clearly directing his middleman to collect Rs 8 lakh from complainant,” the agency recorded in the FIR.
“Middleman Kirshanu later told the complainant, ‘Edda kehna pata ki hai… kehnda hai August da ni aaya, September da ni aaya’, implying DIG Sh. HS Bhullar demanded a monthly bribe also,” the agency further documented.
The conversation corroborated the complainant’s version, and the mobile number used in the purported call was verified as registered to DIG Bhullar, the agency said. “The verification conclusively substantiated a clear demand and agreement for illegal gratification.”
“The complainant further alleged that DIG Bhullar had been demanding recurring monthly payments, referred to as ‘sewa-paani’, and had threatened to falsely implicate him in business-related criminal cases in case of non-compliance,” the agency further alleged in the FIR.
In the complaint, made part of the FIR, the businessman had alerted the agency that he was set to meet the middleman in Chandigarh on 11 October.
(Edited by Ajeet Tiwari)