HC dismisses IAS officer Vijay Singh Dahiya’s anticipatory bail plea

Chandigarh, June 2

The Punjab and Haryana High Court today dismissed a petition filed by IAS officer Vijay Singh Dahiya for the grant of anticipatory bail in a corruption case registered at the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) police station in Panchkula.

The judgment pronounced by Justice Gurvinder Singh Gill was yet to be uploaded on the high court’s official website. The status of the case was shown as “dismissed”. Claiming to have been falsely implicated in the case due to “motivated considerations”, Dahiya, in his petition, submitted that he was posted as Commissioner, Haryana Skill Development Department at Panchkula.

It was added that the FIR under the provisions of the Prevention of Corruption Act and Section 384 and 120 of the IPC was registered on the complaint of Rinku Manchanda, running an education institution. Bills of Rs 50, 00, 000, due to be paid to the complainant, were pending with the Department of Skill Development for the last three years.

It was alleged that the complainant approached a co-accused, who allegedly referred her to another co-accused Poonam Chopra. The Bureau laid a trap and she was apprehended. The purported bribe amount of Rs 3, 00, 000 was allegedly recovered from her.

It was submitted that the trap was laid for Chopra only and the petitioner had nothing to do with the same. She was then asked to contact the petitioner under a second trap before she was taken to a café in Chandigarh. She met the petitioner, but ACB’s attempt to implicate him miserably failed. The fact regarding the second trap was, however, cleverly concealed.

It was further added the petitioner was picked up by the ACB officials, when he stepped out of the café and was forcibly taken to its office. After questioning him for three hours, he was released since nothing incriminating was found.