Hunter becomes the hunted as Punjab Vigilance Bureau grills senior cop Ashish Kapoor

The hunter has become the hunted as senior police officer Ashish Kapoor was arrested on Thursday on extortion charges levelled by his estranged girlfriend by the Vigilance Bureau where he was earlier posted as AIG and busted several big scams in the Punjab government.

He was now serving as AIG of the India Reserve Battalion of the state police and posted at Pathankot.

Sources revealed that many of those exposed by AIG Kapoor during his stint in the Vigilance Bureau (VB) are now rallying around to provide information to facilitate the registration of at least three more FIRs accusing him of corruption in the Rs 1000 crore Irrigation Department scam, the multi-crore Forest Department scam involving two ex-ministers and a case relating to amassing of disproportionate assets by him. Ironically, he had played a key role in busting these scams.

It is alleged that Ashish Kapoor acting at the behest of some very powerful people in the erstwhile Congress government deliberately left lacunae in his investigation for monetary consideration to help the scamsters. Relief was also promised to key accused contractor Gurinder Singh alias Bhapa on certain counts and some engineers of the department.

Next, comes the allegation that he helped some violators of the Forest Act in the fragile Shivalik foothills near Mohali to facilitate the construction of illegal colonies and farmhouses on prohibited land and made easy money. He had first initiated action against a real estate don active in the forest area but later somehow everything fizzled out raising suspicion.

A VB bureau team visited his residence in Mohali a few weeks ago and took measurements of the building to assess the quantum of money spent on the construction. Information about other properties in his name or Benami was also collected.

On the other hand, Ashish Kapoor, at that time, said that he had nothing to hide. The VB was welcome to conduct an inquiry into his assets.

Some officers feel that there may be a bigger game in arresting Kapoor as his four-day custodial interrogation may provide information leading to the arrest of a retired IPS officer, who once headed VB and of a powerful OSD of the Congress government who overlooked the working of VB.

Punjab government’s top functionaries including the Chief Secretary to whom the VB reports and the VB Chief did not provide any comment on the issue when approached by indianarrative.com.