SHO, ASI held in bribery case in Punjab’s Hoshiarpur

Hoshiarpur: The Punjab Vigilance Bureau has arrested a station house officer and an assistant sub-inspector for allegedly demanding a bribe of Rs 1.50 lakh from a man by threatening to implicate his son in a drugs case, an official spokesperson said.

He said Sub-Inspector Raman Kumar, posted as Bulowal station house officer (SHO), and Assistant Sub-Inspector (ASI) Gurdeep Singh were taken into custody following an investigation into an online complaint lodged with the chief minister's anti-corruption action line on Sunday.

According to the complainant, a resident of Asalpur village in Hoshiarpur district, an FIR had been registered at Bulowal police station under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act against his nephew.

He claimed that the accused officers were threatening to implicate his son in the case unless he paid the bribe. Initially, the ASI demanded Rs 1.50 lakh on behalf of the SHO, but after negotiations, the amount was reduced to Rs 1 lakh, the spokesperson said.

The complainant secretly recorded his conversations with the officers and submitted the audio evidence to the VB, he said.

Following verification of the complaint, a case was registered against the accused under relevant sections of the Prevention of Corruption Act and the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), in Jalandhar Range, the VB said.

"Both accused have been arrested and will be produced before the competent court on Tuesday. Further investigation is underway," said Harpreet Singh Mander, Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP), VB, Jalandhar Range.