PATIALA: Following the arrest of a Ludhiana-based middleman, who allegedly accepted a bribe of Rs 10 lakh on behalf of Ferozepur range inspector general of police (IGP) Gurinder Singh Dhillon, a CBI team carried out raids at his residences and office in Patiala and Ferozepur on Friday.The middleman, Ashok Goyal, was arrested by the CBI from Ludhiana on the basis of a complaint filed by former senior superintendent of police Shiv Kumar Sharma, against whom IGP Dhillon had ordered re-initiating of action in a 2009 harassment case of a patwari in July.The CBI team descended on the Patiala and Ferozepur residences of the IG early Friday morning and stayed there till 6.30am, after which the sleuths quizzed the officer at his office in Ferozepur around 9am.Middleman arrested for taking bribe for senior police officerSharma had filed a complaint against Dhillon on August 9, alleging that he had been contacted by Goyal, who claimed that he had been sent by the IGP to convey that if he paid Rs 50 lakh as bribe, he (IGP) would settle the “issue” for him. He alleged Ashok had threatened that if he refused, the IG would contest his bail application and even get more cases registered against him. Sharma said Goyal came to meet him at a hotel in Chandigarh, where he recorded the conversation that took place between them and in which the matter was settled for Rs 22 lakh. There, he also gave him a briefcase containing Rs 5 lakh in cash.The CBI issued a release in the evening, stating it had arrested middleman Goyal for accepting an alleged bribe of Rs 10 lakh on behalf of the IGP, Ferozepur range. The bureau had registered a case under Section 7A of the Prevention of Corruption Act on August 14 on the basis of the complaint filed by the former SSP, in which he had alleged that he was being falsely implicated in the patwari harassment case.The bureau said it laid a trap in Ludhiana and caught Goyal accepting the bribe of Rs 10 lakh on behalf of the IGP. After his arrest, the CBI carried out the raids and seized certain documents from the officecum-residence of the IGP in Ferozepur. Searches conducted at Goyal’s house also led to the recovery of Rs 5 lakh, which was allegedly accepted as the first installment of bribe in Chandigarh.

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