{Blot on khaki}

A significant number of individuals facing charges before the special court of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) wear uniforms. The recent case involving an inspector couple, booked by the CBI in a corruption case, has once again shone the spotlight on the pervasive corruption within the police force — an institution meant to uphold the law.

Analysis of data gathered from a CBI source regarding pending cases before the special CBI court reveals that most of these cases are connected to police officials, especially those from Chandigarh.

The data shows that out of the 69 ongoing cases in the court, 23 cases involve policemen, clearly indicating that more than 33% of the pending cases are against cops.

Out of the 23 cases, 20 are listed against Chandigarh cops, with ranks varying from constable to deputy superintendent of police.

The remaining three are cops from Punjab, Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand.

The ₹40-lakh graft case against the EOW (Economic Offences Wing) deputy superintendent of police (DSP) RC Meena, arrested in 2015, is the oldest among the pending cases.

Recent cases

The most recent case is of the inspector couple, booked by the CBI under the Prevention of Corruption Act on February 16. In a four-year period, starting from January 1, 2017, to February 28, 2021, UT police inspector Harinder Sekhon and his wife, Paramjit Kaur Sekhon, amassed disproportionate assets amounting to ₹1.47 crore from alleged illegal sources of income, states the FIR registered by the CBI.

Sekhon’s role is also under scanner in another graft case being heard by the CBI court.

In this case, the investigating agency in October 2023 submitted the chargesheet against Manish Dubey, younger brother of Chandigarh BJP leader Anil Dubey, and Anil Kumar, alias Kuki, for allegedly accepting bribes of ₹3 lakh on behalf of inspector Sekhon and a constable.

The chargesheet mentions that “further investigation is open qua the role of constable Pawan and a Chandigarh Police inspector Harinder Singh Sekhon”.

Conviction rate against cops over 95%

“Except for one or two odd cases, no cop has been acquitted by the court. The conviction rate against cops is over 95%,” said a CBI source, wishing not to be named.

Figures reveal that since 2015, over 32 cases taken up in the CBI court are against cops. Out of these, at least 28 cases are against Chandigarh Police cops. In majority of cases, more than one policeman is listed as accused.

Of these, 11 have ended in convictions, while trial is pending in the rest of the cases. The convicts also include an IPS officer. No charged cop has been acquitted, though some co-accused, in a couple of cases, have been let off.

In 2023, out of 10 convictions, four convicts were policemen. They are constable Dilbaj Singh, sub-inspector (SI) Sewak Singh, SI Sushil Kumar, and head constable Ritu Bala.

This year, retired Punjab Police DSP Raka Ghirra was also convicted. Her case was one of the oldest corruption cases listed before the CBI court.

A special CBI judge observed that corruption had seeped so much into the roots of society that the people had started forming a notion that for any work they have to bribe some official.

“The convict, rather, deserves a punishment which would act as a deterrent to the other persons in society, so that they would think twice before committing such an offence,” CBI special judge Jagjit Singh had observed.