Punjab Police on Wednesday arrested Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) Faridkot Lakhvir Singh for accepting Rs 10 lakhs as a bribe from a drug supplier for not nominating him in the FIR registered under NDPS Act in Tarn Taran, said the Director-General of Police (DGP) Punjab Gaurav Yadav.
The development came after the Tarn Taran district police had arrested a drug supplier identified as Pishora Singh from a petrol pump near Patti Morh after recovering 250 grams of opium and Rs 1 lakh of drug money from his possession on Sunday. Accused Pishora, a resident of village Model Boparai in Tarn Taran, was wanted in the FIR dated 30 June 2022, in which his aide Surjit Singh of village Mari Megha in Tarn Taran was arrested with 900grams of opium.
DGP Gaurav Yadav said that during the investigation by the Tarn Taran Police, Surjit revealed that he had purchased opium from Pishora, who is the main drug supplier.
“When Police started conducting raids to arrest him, Pishora tried to bribe Patti CIA in-charge by offering Rs 7-8 lakhs through ASI Rashpal Singh (posted as MHC CIA Patti), in lieu of not arresting and nominating him in this case, but the in-charge refused to accept the bribe,” he said while adding that the Police teams continued their efforts to arrest Pishora.
Later, Pishora met Rashpal Singh’s brother Hira Singh through his acquaintance Nishan Singh of village Sito in Tarn Taran, and together they approached DSP Lakhvir, who also happened to be the cousin of Hira Singh, where the DSP negotiated the settlement at Rs 10 lakhs to help the drug supplier, said the DGP, adding that the accused DSP instructed Hira to keep the amount with him.
On the disclosure of Pishora Singh, the Police have also recovered Rs 9.97 lakhs from the house of Hira Singh.
Reiterating the commitment of the Punjab government to make Punjab a corruption-free state, DGP Gaurav Yadav unequivocally said that any Police officer/official found indulged in corruption will not be spared.
SSP Tarn Taran Ranjit Singh Dhillon said that the Police have also nominated ASI Rashpal Singh, Nishan Singh and Hira Singh in the FIR and raids are being conducted to nab them.