CBI conducts second round of searches at the residence of suspended Punjab DIG

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

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

During the raid, the CBI sought footage from the CCTV cameras besides assessing the value of the property, they said.

Mr Bhullar was arrested on October 16 for allegedly accepting ₹8 lakh in bribe from a scrap dealer as “sewa pani”. Subsequent searches resulted in the seizure of cash worth ₹7.5 crore, besides gold jewelery weighing 2.5 kg.

In addition, 26 luxury watches, including those of Rolex and Rado brands, documents relating to more than 50 properties in the names of family members and suspected benami entities, safe deposit box keys and details of multiple bank accounts and four firearms, along with 100 live cartridges, were also seized during the search.

Since his arrest, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has also managed several of his bank lockers, they said.

Mr Bhullar was arrested from his office in Mohali following a complaint filed by the scrap dealer, a resident of Mandi Gobindgarh in Fatehgarh Sahib district. He accused the senior police officer of demanding a recurring monthly payment for ‘settlement’ of a 2023 FIR against him.

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

According to an FIR filed by the CBI, complainant Akash Batta alleged that Mr Bhullar through his intermediary demanded illegal gratification for settling the 2023 case registered against him in Sirhind and ensured that no further coercive or prejudicial police action would be taken against his company.

The complainant further alleged that Mr. Bhullar had demanded recurring monthly payments known as “sewa-paani” and threatened to falsely implicate him in business-related criminal cases in case of non-compliance.

The complainant alleged in his statement that he was arrested on false allegations of using counterfeit bills.

Mr. Bhullar was appointed DIG (Ropar Range) in November 2024. The Ropar Range includes the districts of Mohali, Rupnagar and Fatehgarh Sahib. He was suspended by the Punjab government after his arrest.

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