A CBI team conducted a raid at the Punjab Vigilance Bureau office in Mohali and detained the Director’s reader, S.S. Chauhan, on bribery charges amounting to Rs 25 lakh. The ongoing raid, initiated late Monday evening, resulted in the sealing of the Vigilance office.
During the operation, the CBI first targeted a five-star hotel in Chandigarh, where Inspector O.P. Rana, the reader to the vigilance chief, was caught along with a “middleman” named Raghav Goel negotiating a deal with a complainant. The authorities seized Rs 13 lakh in bribes, arrested Goel, a resident of Muktsar’s Malout, and Rana managed to escape.
Bikram Singh Majithia, an Akali leader and former Cabinet Minister, alleged that the central agency recovered Rs 13 lakh from a vigilance official involved in a Rs 20 lakh bribery scandal. He also mentioned that the Vigilance DGP office was sealed by the central agency post the raid, with the Vigilance chief reportedly missing and uncontactable.
The investigation is intensifying as more details are expected to emerge soon. Majithia highlighted that Reader O.P. Rana of the Vigilance chief had been taken into custody by the Central agency as they delve deeper into the alleged bribery and corruption network. The situation has sparked concerns about the state of affairs at the Punjab Vigilance office under the @AAPPunjab government and Bhagwant Mann.
