The Special CBI Court in Chandigarh Friday dismissed the bail plea of suspended Punjab Police Deputy Inspector General (DIG) Harcharan Singh Bhullar, who was arrested in an alleged bribery case.
During the hearing, Bhullar’s counsel, advocate SPS Bhullar, contended that since the challan in the case has already been filed, no further investigation is required. He submitted that the accused has been in custody for 77 days. The public prosecutor opposed the application, and after considering arguments from both sides, the court rejected the bail request.
Earlier on December 4, 2025, the Punjab and Haryana High Court had declined to stay proceedings in two CBI cases against Bhullar, after a prolonged exchange on the issue of urgency and the scope of interim relief.
The bench of Chief Justice Sheel Nagu and Justice Sanjiv Berry, hearing Bhullar’s challenge to the CBI’s jurisdiction in two FIRs alleging disproportionate assets, had noted that the arguments on the main matter had already begun and that the interim relief sought would effectively amount to granting the final relief at this stage.
A 2009-batch IPS officer, Bhullar was arrested by the CBI in a bribery case. The investigation agency had said in a statement that “the officer was caught while demanding and accepting illegal gratification from a businessman through his associate for settling an FIR registered against the complainant”.
The CBI statement has also mentioned that recoveries from the officer’s residence in Chandigarh included cash amounting to approximately Rs 7.5 crore, gold jewellery weighing 2.5 kg, 26 luxury watches, documents pertaining to more than 50 immovable properties held in the name of family members and suspected benami entities, and four firearms along with 100 live cartridges.
However, raising serious objections to the arrest, the defence contended before the CBI court that Bhullar’s arrest was illegal. The defence further contended that the registration of the FIR was in complete violation of Section 6 of the Delhi Special Police Establishment Act, which mandates prior consent for the CBI to exercise jurisdiction.
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While the arrest memo claimed that Bhullar was arrested at the CBI office in Sector 30, Chandigarh, at 8 pm on October 16 (2024), the defence stated that he was actually apprehended from his office in Mohali around 11.30 am the same day — a fact that the prosecution itself has acknowledged in its post-trap memo.
It was argued that despite being in CBI custody since 11.30 am on October 16, Bhullar was produced before the court only after 2 pm on October 17, clearly exceeding the mandatory 24-hour period, in violation of Articles 20 and 21 of the Constitution of India.
