Hisar Trafficking Case: HC Warns SP, IO of Contempt Over ₹5 Lakh Bribe Bid
Punjab & Haryana HC threatens contempt against Hisar SP and IO Sandeep Banger after accused in a Hisar Trafficking case alleges ₹5 lakh bribe demand in a 2024 trafficking-cheating FIR. Hearing August 27.
North Desk Correspondent
Chandigarh, August 26
Hisar Trafficking Case: The Punjab and Haryana High Court has warned it may initiate contempt proceedings against the Superintendent of Police, Hisar, and the Investigating Officer of a 2024 cheating and trafficking case, after an accused seeking pre-arrest bail alleged the IO demanded ₹5 lakh be paid to the complainant before he would be allowed to join the probe.
The underlying Hisar Trafficking Case
The Hisar Trafficking Case traces back to an registered in August 2024, at Police Station Hisar Civil Lines under Sections 420 (cheating) and 406 (criminal breach of trust) of the IPC.
The complainant, Jagjeet Singh, a resident of Bithmara village in Hisar, told police he was unemployed when a relative connected him to one Harvinder Singh Sindhu, alias Somnath, who claimed to run an overseas placement operation along with a partner, Gurpavitar Singh Gill. According to the FIR, the two allegedly promised to send Jagjeet Singh to the United States for ₹35 lakh. Instead, he says he was sent to Dubai on September 14, 2023, and from there routed to a country in Africa — recorded in his statement as “Mali.”
Hisar Trafficking Case: Jagjeet Singh alleges that once there, he was directed to deposit ₹9.8 lakh at a shop belonging to co-accused Pyare Lal in Pehowa; the money was allegedly collected by a co-accused named Prince. He further alleges he was confined to a room by an individual named Aslam — acting on the instructions of Sindhu and Gill — beaten, stripped of $3,800 in cash and his passport, starved, and told he would not be released unless his family paid ₹10 lakh. His family raised the money and paid it from Hisar; his passport was then returned and he made his way back to India. In his complaint, filed with the Hisar SSP’s office in July 2024 (over ten months after the events, and roughly six weeks before the FIR was formally registered), he sought the return of what he calculated as a total of ₹26.97 lakh lost to the fraud — the $3,800, the ₹19.8 lakh extorted, and roughly ₹3.75 lakh in travel-related costs he says the accused forced him to bear.
Four persons are named in the FIR: Harvinder Singh Sindhu alias Somnath, Gurpavitar Singh Gill (son of Palwinder Singh), Pyare Lal, and Prince. Two of them — Prince (recorded in later court filings as Prince Srivastav) and a further accused, Jitender Kumar — have since been granted regular bail by an Additional Sessions Judge, on February 10, 2025 and April 6, 2026 respectively. Gurpavitar Singh Gill was granted regular bail by the High Court on May 14, 2025.
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The bail petition and the bribe allegation
Hisar Trafficking Case: A fifth man, Harjinder Singh, alias Varinder Kumar, was drawn into the case despite not being named in the original FIR. His counsel has argued to the High Court that he has no connection to the alleged crime, runs a finance company — Armaan Finance — in Goraya, Jalandhar district, and was implicated chiefly because he is the real brother of already-bailed co-accused Jitender Kumar. The State, opposing bail, told the court he had received ₹5 lakh from a co-accused and that custodial interrogation was necessary.
On July 20, 2026, Justice N.S. Shekhawat directed Harjinder Singh to join the investigation, granting him interim protection from arrest conditional on his cooperation.
When the Hisar Trafficking Case came up on August 25, the State’s counsel, instructed by ASI Sandeep Banger — the Investigating Officer — told the court that Harjinder Singh had come to the police station on August 14, 2026, but left after assuring the IO he would return, and had not rejoined the investigation despite subsequent notices.
Harjinder Singh’s counsel disputed this account in detail. He told the court his client had called the IO on the mobile number on record after the July 20 order but received no notice in response; that he went to the police station on his own on August 14, 2026, along with advocate Karambir Singh Mehla, arrived around 3 PM, met the IO, and answered written questions put to him.
He alleged that the IO then pressured him to pay ₹5 lakh to the complainant as a condition for being allowed to join the investigation, that he and his counsel were made to sit at the police station until 9 PM, and that the IO refused to issue any diary number recording his appearance — instead threatening him with “dire consequences.”
He also said Harjinder Singh had separately written to the Superintendent of Police, Hisar, asking that the IO be directed to permit him to join the probe, and that his counsel produced photographs (Annexure P-10) showing he had in fact appeared at the police station.
The court’s order records its own conclusion in stark terms: that the State counsel’s version — given on the IO’s instructions — “is false,” and that the IO’s conduct “is on the verge of contempt.” Before initiating contempt proceedings, the court directed both the SP, Hisar, and ASI Sandeep Banger to personally appear at the next hearing, on August 27, 2026 — with the SP first required to hold an inquiry into the allegations, and the order noting that “appropriate action shall be taken against the Investigating Officer… only if the averments made by the petitioner are found to be correct.”
The matter is listed before Justice Shekhawat on August 27, 2026, when the SP Hisar and ASI Sandeep Banger are due to appear in person. The court’s findings will determine whether formal contempt proceedings follow.
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