Chandigarh, January 1, 2025 – With an aim to root out corruption from the society, curb bribe-takers and eliminate this social evil from the public sector, the Punjab Vigilance Bureau has adopted a multi-pronged approach with determination and arrested 173 accused red-handed while accepting bribe during the year 2024. Giving information in this regard, Chief Director-cum-Special DGP of Vigilance Bureau Varinder Kumar said that the Vigilance Bureau caught 139 officers/employees of various departments and 34 common persons red-handed while accepting bribe in 134 trap cases during the year 2024.
From January 1 to December 31, 2024, 10 Gazetted Officers (GOs) and 129 Non-Gazetted Officers (NGOs) were arrested in various cases of corruption. The Vigilance Bureau chief said that this year, apart from other departments, 53 employees of Punjab Police, 33 of Revenue Department, 9 of Electricity Department, 3 of Panchayat and Rural Development, 8 of Health Department, 18 of Local Bodies Department, 3 of Food and Civil Supplies Department were arrested red handed while accepting bribe in various cases. Besides, two employees each of Forest Department, Labour Department, Finance Department and Transport Department were also arrested in corruption cases.
Giving more details about the actions taken by the Bureau, he said that the Vigilance Bureau has registered 124 criminal cases against the accused, which include 29 gazetted officers, 117 non-gazetted officers and 117 common citizens. Besides, 60 vigilance inquiries were registered to probe complaints of corruption against 26 gazetted officers, 27 non-gazetted officers and 7 other common persons. Besides, 3 cases of amassing disproportionate assets were also registered against 3 non-gazetted officers. In addition, 1 gazetted officer and 1 non-gazetted officer were dismissed from service by the respective administrative departments due to their conviction by the courts in the cases registered by the Vigilance Bureau.
He further informed that the Bureau completed 71 vigilance investigations this year. Sharing details in this regard, DGP Vigilance Bureau informed that various competent courts convicted 50 accused in 41 cases registered by the Bureau under Prevention of Corruption Act. These include 3 gazetted officers, 31 non-gazetted officers and 16 common persons who were awarded punishment ranging from one year to seven years. The courts also imposed fines ranging from Rs 5,000 to Rs 5,00,000 on the convicts in these cases, which amounts to a total of Rs 22,42,000.
During the Vigilance Awareness Week observed last year, the Vigilance Bureau effectively implemented awareness campaigns. Under this, seminars and public meetings were organised in urban and rural areas to root out corruption from the society. All the officers and employees of the bureau also took an oath of honesty. He further informed that the prominent officers who were arrested or cases were registered against them in corruption cases last year include IAS officer Vinay Bublani, PCS officer Harpreet Singh (Assistant Labour Commissioner, Hoshiarpur), ACP Nirdesh Kaur (Ludhiana), Executive Engineers Ranbir Singh and Rajinder Singh, DCFA Pankaj Garg, CTP Pankaj Bawa, Jarnail Singh Bajwa, owner of Bajwa Developers Mohali, and Medical Officer Dr Narinderpal Singh.
Apart from this, BDPOs Gurmukh Singh, Sarabjit Singh and Kulwinder Singh posted in Ludhiana, Ferozepur and Mohali respectively, Baldev Raj (DFSO), Tehsildar Sukhchain Singh and Lakhwinder Singh, Deepak Kumar Singal of Deepak Builders, Chief Engineer Arvinder Singh, and Executive Engineers Paramjit Singh and Sarabraj Kumar have also been arrested.