CBI conducts second round of searches at suspended Punjab DIG’s residence

The CBI on Thursday (October 23, 2025) conducted a second round of searches at the residence of Punjab Deputy Inspector General of Police (Ropar Range) Harcharan Singh Bhullar, who was arrested on bribery charges last week, officials said.

They said the new operation at Mr. Bhullar’s Sector 40 residence came amid reports that he was not cooperating with the agency.

During the raid, the CBI investigated the CCTV footage and also assessed the value of the property.

Mr. Bhullar was arrested on October 16 for allegedly accepting a bribe of ₹8 lakh as “sewa pani” from a scrap dealer. During subsequent searches, gold jewelery weighing 2.5 kg along with cash worth ₹ 7.5 crore was seized.

During the searches, 26 luxury watches, including Rolex and Rado brands, documents related to more than 50 real estate held in the name of family members and benami suspects, cabinet keys and information about many bank accounts, 4 firearms as well as 100 live cartridges were also seized.

Since his arrest, he was also said to have been operating several of the Central Bureau of Investigation’s (CBI) bank lockers.

Mr. Bhullar was arrested from his Mohali office following a complaint by the scrap dealer, a resident of Mandi Gobindgarh in Fatehgarh Sahib district. He accused the senior police officer of demanding regular monthly payments to “resolve” the 2023 FIR against him.

A middleman, identified as Kirshanu, was also arrested and ₹21 lakh was seized from him.

According to an FIR lodged by the CBI, the complainant, Akash Batta, alleged that Mr. Bhullar sought illegal gratification through his intermediary to resolve the case registered against him in Sirhind in 2023 and to ensure that no further coercive or adverse police action is taken against his business.

The complainant also alleged that Mr Bhullar demanded recurring monthly payments, referred to as “sewa-paani”, and threatened to falsely implicate him in work-related criminal cases in case of non-compliance.

In his statement, the complainant claimed that action was taken against him based on false allegations that he used a fake invoice.

Mr Bhullar was appointed DIG (Ropar Range) in November 2024. Ropar Range covers Mohali, Rupnagar and Fatehgarh Sahib districts. After his arrest, he was suspended by the Punjab government.

The officer is the son of former Punjab Director General of Police MS Bhullar.