PCS officer’s bail plea dismissed

Ludhiana: A local court has dismissed bail plea of Punjab Civil Services (PCS) officer Narinder Singh Dhaliwal, posted as regional transport authority (RTA) at Ludhiana, in a corruption case.
On January 6, the Punjab Vigilance Bureau (VB) had arrested Dhaliwal for allegedly running a racket to collect bribes from transporters. He was later placed under suspension.

Dismissing the bail plea, the court held that the investigation is at very initial stage and the prosecution even in the status report has expressed apprehension of influencing the investigation and threatening the witnesses in case the applicant is released on bail. “In view of the serious allegations against the applicant, the apprehension of the prosecution is not wholly misplaced. There is every possibility that with the progress of investigation, more accused can be arrested in the case because there seems to be possibility of much bigger scam than it looks at this stage,” the court remarked.
The court also observed that the seriousness of allegations and gravity of the offence are also major considerations in the grant of regular bail. The court remarked, “There are serious allegations against the applicant and in view of the gravity of the offence, he is not entitled to the relief of regular bail.”
The counsel for applicant-accused that the applicant has been falsely implicated in the case. He argued that all the employees of the Regional Transport Authority Ludhiana have also made complaint against the complainant to the Ludhiana police commissioner for taking action as he was blackmailing and harassing them.
“In-fact, the complainant and the other persons who had joined hands to blackmail the applicant, are not reliable and there is no evidence to connect the applicant with the alleged offence,” the counsel for applicant contended.
The additional public prosecutor for the state argued that that it is a case of big scam and the applicant is the main accused of the case.
“The VB team verified the evidence and facts of the complaint which were found true. The probe established that RTA Narinder Singh Dhaliwal used to collect bribe money through some private persons. It was found that in December last year, he had received bribe money of Rs 4 lakh and out of which he used Rs 1.7 lakh for himself and the remaining amount was handed over to Bahadar Singh,” the VB spokesperson had said. “During investigations PHG volunteer disclosed to the VB that being subordinate employee of the RTA, he has to obey the orders of RTA and could produce bribe money of Rs 2.3 lakh.”