CBI court frames charges against Punjab IAS officer in graft case

The special Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) court framed charges against senior Indian administrative service (IAS) officer Paramjit Singh who is accused of allegedly taking a ₹2 lakh bribe for recommending the name of an officer for promotion.

Charges have been framed under section 7 of the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988. The CBI had arrested Paramjit, the then director of Punjab Roadways in Chandigarh, in January 2022, for allegedly taking a ₹2 lakh bribe for recommending the name of an officer (the complainant) for promotion to the post of general manager in the Departmental Promotion Committee (DPC), CBI investigation found.

Public prosecutor for CBI, Narender Singh argued that the probe agency has enough evidence against the accused officer.

As per CBI, the complainant was due for promotion to the rank of general manager, for which a DPC was constituted in January 2022 and the then director (Paramjit) was part of the said committee.

The accused allegedly demanded a bribe of ₹5 lakh from the complainant for recommending his name to the principal secretary, transport, Punjab, for promotion. Later, the bribe amount was negotiated to ₹2 lakh.

The CBI laid a trap and caught the IAS officer while allegedly accepting ₹2 lakh, as per the probe agency.

CBI said that the investigation has established that the accused had recommended the name of the complainant for his promotion in the DPC meeting.