Court rejects anticipatory bail plea of RTO in corruption case
The state counsel argued in court that it was necessary to take Dhillon into custody for interrogation and hence his anticipatory bail plea should not be accepted.
A Mohali court on Wednesday rejected an anticipatory bail plea of regional transport officer (RTO) Pradeep Singh Dhillon, booked in a Prevention of Corruption Act case registered against him by the Vigilance Bureau. The directions were issued by the court of chief judicial magistrate Anish Goyal.
During the previous hearing on April 25, arrest warrants were issued against Dhillon. The state counsel argued in court that it was necessary to take Dhillon into custody for interrogation and hence his anticipatory bail plea should not be accepted. On the other hand, the defence argued that Pradeep was willing to join the investigation and his bail plea should be accepted. The court stated that in such offences, the arrest of the accused is essential; therefore, his application is rejected.
Dhillon, a resident of Sector-80, Mohali, has been named by the Vigilance Bureau under Sections 7 and 7A of the PC Act and Section 61(2) of the BNS Act. His arrest warrant is valid until May 1. As soon as Dhillon learned that he was being named in the case, he fled. He held charge of both Mohali and Patiala districts.
Dhillon is physically disabled, and due to this, his retirement age was set at 60 years, meaning he was scheduled to retire from his post in May 2026.
On April 7, the Vigilance Bureau had conducted statewide raids on regional transport authority (RTA) offices. During the raid, one Sukhwinder Singh was caught accepting a bribe of ₹500 in exchange for passing a driving test at the driving test centre in Sector 82, Mohali. In the course of investigation, Mohali RTO Pradeep Singh Dhillon was named in the case.
