Rs 8 lakh, CM’s letterheads seized from ASI’s houses

Amit Sharma
Tribune News Service
Chandigarh, June 19

CBI sleuths have recovered letterheads of the Punjab Chief Minister, stamp of the OSD to the Chief Minister, some documents and Rs 8 lakh during searches conducted at the houses of ASI Bhupinder Singh in Chandigarh and Amritsar.

Bhupinder Singh, an ASI of the Punjab Police, who is on deputation with Transport Department, Punjab, was nabbed yesterday while allegedly taking a bribe of Rs 20,000.

CBI sleuths said letterheads of the Punjab Chief Minister were recovered from the suspect’s house, which had widened the scope of investigation into the case. “It will be investigated whether the suspect illegally used these letterheads and stamps somewhere,” a CBI official said.

The CBI also recovered receipts and blank challans of the assistant transport officer (ATO) during a search of the suspect’s house in Sector 23, Chandigarh.

An amount of Rs 8 lakh was recovered. “We will investigate the source of the money,” the CBI official said. The CBI will also probe immovable assets, if any, of the suspect.

PK Dogra, senior public prosecutor for the CBI, said the suspect was produced before a court and sent to two-day police remand.

Bhupinder, posted as a driver with the ATO, had intercepted a truck loaded with tiles near Mullanpur and challaned it for overloading. He posed as the ATO and took the documents of the truck in his possession.

He was demanding Rs 25,000 from the truck cleaner, Punam Chand, to release the documents. After negotiations, the bribe money was settled at Rs 20,000.