AIG, two aides booked on corruption charges
Chandigarh: The Vigilance Bureau (VB) has registered a case against Malwinder Singh Sidhu, Assistant Inspector General (AIG) of the Human Rights Cell, Punjab Police, along with driver Kuldeep Singh from the Food, Civil Supplies and Consumer Affairs Department, and Balbir Singh of Alampur village in Patiala for exploiting their positions, committing fraud, blackmailing, extortion and seeking bribe from government employees.
A Vigilance Bureau spokesperson said the AIG used to initiate complaints against the government employees, only to subsequently withdraw these in exchange for illicit gains.
On October 30, the Vigilance Bureau registered a case against the accused under Sections 7 and 7-A of the Prevention of Corruption Act and under Sections 384, 419, 420, and 120-B of the IPC in Mohali.
The VB spokesperson said Sidhu had never held a rank of AIG or IG within the VB in the past five years. This officer also misused his government vehicle and drew other expenses from the government account, he said.
In one of the incidents, Sidhu falsely identified himself as the IG in the VB to a data operator working at an office of Block Primary Education Officer, Rajpura. He obtained a photocopy of a government teacher’s service book and took photographs of the initial page using his cellphone.
The Vigilance Bureau spokesperson said Sidhu sent an application to the principal, Government Senior Secondary School, Ghanour, besides on the email ID of the school and another application through Kuldeep and received record of a schoolteacher.
He took the District Social Welfare Officer along with him to the school and asked the principal to sign the two-page proforma, which the latter refused.
In another case, Sidhu along with Balbir obtained the personal record of a Block Officer who was posted at Guruharsahai in Ferozepur. After this, they lodged a complaint against the officer concerned in the Agriculture Department for possessing a forged Scheduled Caste certificate.
To withdraw the complaint, Rs 3 lakh was demanded from the Block Officer. Of this, Rs 1.5 lakh was unlawfully accepted by Balbir and Sidhu.
