On Thursday, the Punjab Vigilance Bureau arrested Assistant Inspector General of Police Ashish Kapoor, Commandant of the 4th IRB in Pathankot, for allegedly taking a bribe of Rs 1 crore.
In addition to Ashish, DSP (Intelligence) Pawan Kumar and ASI Harjinder Singh have been named as defendants. In a statement, the Vigilance Bureau (VB) said a case was filed against the accused under Sections 7 and 7-A of the Prevention of Corruption Act and Sections 420 and 120-B of the Indian Penal Code. He got acquainted with Poonam Rajan of Kurukshetra, who was in judicial remand in some case, during his posting as Superintendent at the Amritsar Central Jail in 2016.
In some cases, Ashish was allegedly present at the Zirakpur police station when Poonam, her mother Prem Lata, brother Kuldeep Singh, and sister-in-law Preeti were on remand. He allegedly persuaded Prem Lata to help Poonam obtain bail and get acquitted.
Asi Harjinder and Pawan, then Zirakpur SHO, conspired with Ashish to declare Preeti “innocent” in the case. Through the ASI, Ashish allegedly encashed checks totaling Rs 1 crore in the names of his acquaintances in exchange for Prem Lata’s signature.