A team from the Central Bureau of Investigation has arrested Deputy Inspector General of Punjab Police Harcharan Singh Bhullar in a corruption case. He was arrested red-handed from his office in Mohali while accepting Rs. 5 lakh as an installment of a bribe demanded from a car scrap dealer on Thursday.
The CBI team ,in addition to DIG Harcharan Singh Bhullar’s office, also searched his Khanna residence and a farmhouse. He was also taken to Panchkula and later brought back.
The Chandigarh-based CBI team took action based on a complaint filed by a scrap dealer in Fatehgarh Sahib. The scrap dealer had alleged that the Punjab Police was implicating him in a false case. A bribe of Rs. 8 lakh was demanded to settle the case. The scrap dealer was also asked to pay a monthly payment. In return, the police promised him that no investigation or interference would be conducted regarding the legal or illegal nature of the scrap cars coming to his premises.
Harcharan Singh Bhullar is a 2007-batch officer of the Indian Police Service and holds considerable influence within the bureaucracy of Punjab. He was appointed DIG of the Ropar Range on November 27, 2024. IPS officer Harcharan Singh Bhullar’s father, Mehal Singh Bhullar, was also an IPS officer and served as the DGP of Punjab. His younger brother, Kuldeep Singh Bhullar, is a former Congress MLA in Punjab.
Considering the Bhullar family’s extensive network in Punjab, the CBI team ensured that no Punjab Police personnel, on deputation , were included in the raiding party.
IPS Harcharan Bhullar previously served as the DIG of the Patiala Range. Bhullar has kept himself away from public attention. He was actively involved in the YUDDH NASHA VIRUDDH (war against drugs) campaign in the Ropar Range. Bhullar also led the Special Investigation Team that interrogated Akali leader Bikram Singh Majithia on drug trafficking charges.
