MOHALI: Ropar Range DIG Harcharan Singh Bhullar and a ‘middleman’ were arrested by CBI at his Mohali office on Thursday on bribery charges after an iron merchant from Fatehgarh Sahib district complained that the IPS officer was demandings Rs 8 lakh to ‘settle’ a case.CBI officers seized around Rs 5 crore in cash, 1.5kg of jewellery, 22 ‘luxury watches’, keys to an Audi and a Mercedes, locker keys, 40 litres of imported liquor bottles, a pistol, a revolver and a double-barrelled gun during searches at premises linked to him, an agency statement said at night. Documents pertaining to immovable properties and assets in Punjab were also seized, it said.
The agency seized Rs 21 lakh in cash from the middleman, the statement read, adding that both accused will be produced in court on Friday. Searches and investigation are on.CBI teams from Delhi and Chandigarh jointly conducted the operation, said sources.Bhullar, a 2009-batch IPS officer, served as SSP Mohali and DIG Patiala Range before being posted to Ropar Range on Nov 27, 2024. He also headed the SIT that questioned senior Akali Dal leader Bikram Singh Majithia in a drug smuggling probe.According to the CBI release, it registered a case on Oct 16, 2025, against the IPS officer and his associate on allegations that he demanded a bribe of Rs 8 lakh and monthly illegal gratification through his middleman for “settling” an FIR registered against the complainant and ensuring that no further coercive or adverse police action was taken against his business.“CBI laid a trap and caught the private individual red-handed while demanding and accepting Rs 8 lakh from the complainant on behalf of the DIG at Sector 21, Chandigarh,” it said.A ‘controlled call’ was made to Bhullar during which he “acknowledged the payment” and directed the middleman and complainant to come to his office, said the statement. The CBI team then apprehended the duo.The complainant is a resident of Mandi Gobindgarh and was facing a case of theft of iron and steel products.Source : Times of India