Chandigarh, A special CBI court here on Tuesday sent the two middlemen, who were arrested during a raid at the Punjab Vigilance office in Mohali in a ₹13 lakh bribery case, to a three-day remand.
In a late-night raid at the Punjab Vigilance office in Mohali followed by a dramatic chase, the CBI arrested two middlemen and another person in a ₹13-lakh bribery case involving senior officers of the department, officials said.
Vikas Goyal and his son Raghav Goyal have been sent to three-day remand, while the third accused Ankit Wadhwa was sent to the judicial custody.
Three of them were produced before the court here.
The court also issued a non-bailable warrant against O P Rana, reader to the Director General . Rana is still absconding.
Meanwhile, an official spokesperson of the Punjab Vigilance bureau said if the name of anyone from the bureau arises, we will cooperate fully with the CBI and let the law take its course.”
Replying to a question about his reader, Punjab Vigilance Bureau Chief Director, Sharad Satya Chauhan said, “I have no idea. How do I know? You have to ask the investigation agency. We will cooperate fully with the investigative agency.”
Chauhan, the 1994-batch IPS officer and one of the contenders for the post of Director General of Police, on Tuesday attended the Mohali office on Tuesday.
The CBI took the action after registering an FIR on a complaint of a Punjab State Tax Officer, who had accused Vikas Goyal and his son Raghav Goyal of demanding illegal gratification of ₹20 Lakh for securing the closure of a complaint against him in the office of DG , Punjab.
“Further, it was alleged that both the accused were acting as intermediaries for senior Vigilance officials including the Reader to DGP Vigilance, Punjab and were using their influence to assure the complainant that his matter could be settled. O. P. Rana, the reader to DG Vigilance assured him for closure of the complaint once illegal gratification is paid,” a CBI spokesperson said in a statement.
Prima facie, the investigation reveals active involvement of Rana in the conspiracy, the CBI spokesperson said.
According to the statement, during negotiations, the accused reduced the demand from ₹20 lakh to ₹13 lakh along with one Samsung Galaxy Z Fold7 mobile phone for Rana.
After getting confirmation about the bribe exchange, a CBI team raided a place in Chandigarh, where an associate of the accused, Ankit Wadhwa, was arrested while accepting a bribe of ₹13 lakh and a mobile phone on their behalf, the spokesperson said.
“The bribe amount and mobile phone were recovered during the trap proceedings,” the statement read.
It is believed to be the first raid by any central investigative agency at the office of the Punjab Vigilance Bureau, which is the state’s own anti-corruption wing.
This article was generated from an automated news agency feed without modifications to text.
