Ludhiana: Case registered as CDs containing graft proof against cops go missing

The case in question is from 2003, when police personnel were accused of accepting bribes from two lottery traders at the latter’s office. The case was disposed of in 2023.

On October 13, 2023, the court of additional sessions judge sentenced the 13 police personnel to five years in prison each for allegations of corruption.

On Sunday, police registered a first-information report (FIR) against unidentified accused.

The FIR was registered following a statement by Division Number 6 station-house officer (SHO) inspector Rajesh Thakur.

The SHO said in his complaint that while examining the records, the officials found three CDs related to the case missing.

The senior officials marked a probe and following an investigation, the case under Section 409 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) was registered. Officials said police will determine the responsibility of cops concerned and take appropriate action.

The inspector said on April 24, 2003, a case was registered against at least 13 police personnel under the Prevention of Corruption Act.

The case came after the police personnel were caught on camera while accepting bribes from two lottery traders, Bittu Chawla and Subhash Kaitty.

The police personnel convicted in 2003 were sub-inspector Darshan Singh, head constables Milka Singh, Jaswinder Singh, Sartaj Singh, Amrik Singh, Kuldeep Singh, Jai Krishna and Baldev Singh, special police officer Prem Singh, and constables Palwinder Singh, Rakesh Kumar, Amrik Singh and another constable who went by the name Amrik Singh.

They were all posted at the Division Number 6 police station at the time of the incident.

Bittu Chawla and Subhash Katty had accused the officials of accepting bribes and an investigation was launched in 2003. The complainants claimed that each police employee would regularly take bribes ranging from ₹4,000 to ₹5,000, primarily to facilitate illegal lottery operations. They had produced videos of the accused accepting bribes. The videos were shot with hidden cameras.

Bittu Chawla lost his life following an ailment before the pronouncement of the verdict. After the duo had filed a complaint against the police personnel, the police department had registered multiple cases against them. It has been learned that there were around 33 cases registered against Chawla, all as a result of police coercion. His friend, the complainant, also faced a similar situation after revealing the misconduct to a senior officer. Some police officers were also implicated for allegedly attempting to tamper with the footage from closed-circuit television (CCTV) cameras.