Early Times Report
NEW DELHI, July 1: The CBI has arrested a senior IPS officer posted on central deputation in the Bureau of Civil Aviation Security (BCAS), in connection with an alleged Rs 3 crore bribery case linked to the agency's probe into a fake drug manufacturing racket, officials said on Wednesday. Deepak Gahlawat, a 2012-batch IPS officer of Haryana cadre, was serving as BCAS regional director at the time of the alleged offence. He is accused of assuring a Puducherry-based businessman a favourable outcome in the CBI probe by using his purported influence over agency officials in return for the bribe, they said. "Searches have been conducted at multiple premises linked to the IPS officer and multiple digital devices, hard disks, and documents have been seized," a CBI spokesperson said. The arrest stems from an FIR registered by the CBI on June 8 against Delhi Police Crime Branch Inspector Pradeep Singh, alleged middleman Rajkumar and businessman N Raja. Last month, the agency arrested Singh, Rajkumar and five others in a trap operation, recovering Rs 25 lakh as trap money and another Rs 90 lakh, besides incriminating documents, the spokesperson said. "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 the sale of counterfeit drugs in Puducherry," the officer said. According to officials, Raja was facing a CBI investigation in an alleged fake drug manufacturing case registered earlier this year and got in touch with Singh, who allegedly gave an assurance that he would be able to influence the probe.
Singh then arranged a meeting between Raja and Gahlawat at his office in Aerocity, where the IPS officer allegedly demanded Rs 3 crore, including an upfront payment of Rs. 1.5 crore, in return for a "favourable investigation".
The businessman arranged Rs 1 crore through a hawala transaction, which was allegedly handed over to Singh, who in turn passed on Rs 50 lakh to another middleman, Prabhat, who was known to the suspect public servant, officials said.
"Accused Pradeep Kumar Singh kept the remaining Rs 25 lakh in his office. Thereafter, on June 8, 2026, accused Rajkumar and Pradeep Kumar Singh were apprehended," an official said. (PTI) |
