CHANDIGARH/NEW DELHI: The CBI has arrested a serving IPS officer of Haryana cadre for seeking a Rs 3-crore bribe in order to manage and tamper the federal agency probe into Rs 5,000 crore counterfeit medicine racket in Puducherry.
The officer, identified as Deepak Gahlawat, a 2012-batch IPS officer of Haryana cadre currently serving as a Regional Director with Directorate General of Civil Aviation, was held a month after CBI nabbed men, including a Delhi Police inspector, on charges of accepting a bribe of Rs 1 crore.
The CBI alleged Gahlawat told N Raja alias Valliappan alias Rajasekhar, the main accused in the case, that he could secure relief in the CBI probe through his contacts within the agency, and sought Rs 3 crore in exchange.
“During investigation, it was disclosed that the IPS officer had demanded illegal gratification claiming that he could exercise his personal influence and obtain relief for private persons in the cases being investigated by CBI in relation to sale of counterfeit drugs in Puducherry,” a CBI spokesperson said in a statement. The CBI said that it questioned him several times. “He was thereafter arrested,” the agency said.
The CBI registered an FIR on June 8 against Raja, Delhi Police Crime Branch inspector Pradeep Kumar Singh and an alleged intermediary identified as Rajkumar alias Madhanraj. The FIR also named unidentified public servants and private individuals.
The counterfeit medicine operation was uncovered following raids by Puducherry police and the state’s crime branch last year, which led to the seizure of large stocks of spurious drugs and raw materials. Raja was held in December.
Puducherry counterfeit medicine racket case
Deepak Gahlawat, a 2012-batch IPS officer of Haryana cadre currently serving with DGCA, was arrested a month after CBI held a Delhi Police inspector on charges of accepting a bribe of Rs 1 crore in order to manage and tamper the federal agency probe into Rs 5,000 crore counterfeit medicine racket in Puducherry.