False case, pressure: Behind Punjab’s high profile bribery racket

Chandigarh: CBI officers investigating the bribery scandal with alleged links to Punjab Vigilance Bureau (VB) have found that the disproportionate assets case filed against a state tax officer at VB was likely false — meant to hook him into the extortion racket so that Rs 20 lakh could be extracted from him, say sources.While no officer would come on record, sources told TOI on Wednesday that preliminary investigation has revealed the arrested father and son – Vikas and Raghav Goel – had allegedly extorted money from two policemen in Muktsar in a similar fashion. CBI plans to question the two cops.While Vikas and Raghav are being interrogated in CBI custody, multiple teams of the central agency are conducting raids in possible hideouts in Punjab and Haryana in search of the key suspect on the run, inspector OP Rana, who is reader to Punjab vigilance bureau (VB) DG.Rana dodged CBI's raid at the bureau office in Mohali on Monday night and hasn't been seen since. CBI teams have been looking for him for nearly 48 hours but have drawn a blank so far.It was Vikas and Raghav who had introduced state tax officer Amit Kumar, whose complaint led to the CBI action, to Rana. The "fictitious complaint" against Kumar at Punjab Vigilance Bureau HQ was filed to extort lakhs from him, sources said. After initiating the DA complaint, both accused allegedly started pressuring him to pay a bribe of Rs 20 lakh to ‘settle' the DA complaint. It was negotiated down to Rs 13 lakh and an expensive mobile phone but Kumar decided to approach CBI.The complainant submitted records of purported WhatsApp calls between him and the father-son duo to CBI with his complaint, say sources.After verifying the complaint, CBI laid a trap at a five-star hotel in Chandigarh on Monday night and caught Ankit Wadhwa, driver of Vikas and Raghav, accepting Rs 13 lakh in cash and the phone. According to CBI, Vikas, Raghav and Rana escaped after allegedly being warned by the Punjab Police gunmen. The CBI team pursued them for 50km and intercepted the father and son near Ambala. Rana gave them the slip. CBI searched the houses of Raghav and Vikas in Malot and Rana's office in Chandigarh, and seized around Rs 9 lakh in cash and important documents. The investigation revealed that sensitive information related to pending vigilance cases was being shared between Rana and the accused, says the agency. CBI is investigating how extensive this bribery network was and whether other officials or middlemen were involved. Punjab vigilance chief SS Chauhan had told mediapersons on Tuesday that ‘private people' had been arrested and assured that VB will "fully cooperate with CBI's investigation and whatever action they are taking".