Chandigarh, April 7: A CBI court in Mohali on Monday sentenced Punjab’s former Senior Superintendent of Police Devinder Singh Garcha and former Superintendent of Police, Headquarters, Paramdip Singh Sandhu to five years of rigorous imprisonment each, in connection with the 2007 sex scandal in Moga.

Besides the imprisonment under the provisions of the Prevention of Corruption Act, the court imposed a fine of Rs 2 lakh each.

Garcha and Sandhu were arrested and charged with blackmailing influential persons to extort money.

Former Inspector Amarjit Singh was sentenced to six-and-a-half years of rigorous imprisonment and fined Rs 2.5 lakh, while former Sub-Inspector Raman Kumar was sentenced to eight years of rigorous imprisonment and fined Rs 3 lakh.

Both were found guilty of implicating prominent businessmen in a false gangrape case to extort money from them.

CBI Special Judge Rakesh Gupta pronounced the verdict after convicting Garcha, Sandhu, Raman Kumar, and Amarjit Singh under Sections 13(1) (D) and 13 (2) of the PC Act on March 29.

Besides corruption, Raman Kumar was also convicted of extortion, while Amarjit Singh was convicted of attempting extortion.

The CBI court acquitted Barjinder Singh, alias Makhan, the son of former Punjab minister Tota Singh, and Sukhraj Singh of all the charges.

The CBI took over the probe on the Punjab and Haryana High Court’s direction on December 11, 2007. A day later, the central probe agency registered a fresh FIR in the case.

The sex scandal involved high-profile politicians and senior police officials extorting rich people by trapping them in a flesh trade case.

As per the investigation, the accused public servants abused their positions and entered into a criminal conspiracy to obtain undue pecuniary gain by corrupt and illegal means.

According to the charge sheet, two women, including Manjit Kaur, in connivance with the police officers and Barjinder Singh, extorted money from influential people by threatening to frame them in sexual abuse cases if they refused to pay up.

Mumbai: Fallon Guliwala, wife of actor Ajaz Khan, who was arrested in November 2024 after narcotics were recovered from her residence, has been granted bail by a special court in Mumbai.

Guliwala had been in custody for over four months. The court has imposed certain conditions for her bail, including the submission of her passport, a restriction on travel, and mandatory attendance before the investigating officer three times a week until the chargesheet is filed.

Her lawyer, Ayaz Khan, argued that she was unaware of the recovered items and that she was not the only occupant of the premises. He also mentioned that the CCTV system was turned off during the raid, and no videography or photography was conducted.

Special Public Prosecutor Vibhavari Pathak opposed the bail plea, stating that a prima facie case existed against Guliwala.

Considering that the seizure process had already been completed, the court granted bail but with strict conditions.

Mumbai, April 5: Stand up comedian Kunal Kamra has been issued a third summons by Mumbai’s Khar Police, asking him to appear for questioning on Saturday.

This summons follows two previous attempts by the police to call Kamra in for investigation, but the comedian failed to show up for either of the earlier summons.

Kamra is under investigation for an alleged controversial comment that was understood to be an indirect swipe at Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Eknath Shinde.

The video, which aired following Kamra’s performance at the Habitat Comedy Club in Khar, saw the comedian using a modified version of a popular Bollywood song from ‘Dil To Pagal Hai.’ “Meri nazar se tum dekho toh, gaddar nazar wo aaye. Haaye,” Kunal Kamra said during his show which was understood to be a jibe at Shinde.

The comments, were perceived to be made in the context of the 2022 Maharashtra political crisis, which led to the fall of the Uddhav Thackeray-led government, resulted in multiple FIRs being filed against Kamra.

Following the release of Kamra’s video on March 23, Shiv Sena workers, angered by his remarks, vandalised the Unicontinental Hotel in Khar where Kamra had recorded the video. This incident led to the arrest of 12 Shinde supporters, who were later granted bail.

In response to the summons, Kamra had earlier stated he was unavailable in Mumbai due to prior commitments and offered to appear for questioning on April 2.

However, the police did not accept his request for a delayed appearance.

Kamra’s lawyer, V. Suresh, had expressed concerns about Kamra’s safety, claiming he had received threats from certain Maharashtra Cabinet ministers.

Mumbai’s Khar Police Station is investigating the matter, with two FIRs already filed against Kamra for derogatory remarks. In addition, three more FIRs filed against him in different parts of Maharashtra have been combined into the Mumbai investigation.

The police have confirmed that Kamra is not currently in contact with the Khar police station. Kamra has been granted protection from arrest until April 7 by the Madras High Court, but the latest summons indicate that the investigation is moving forward despite his earlier refusals to comply.