Punjab IAS officer Sanjay Popli, who was arrested earlier this month on corruption charges, on Saturday evening alleged that the Vigilance Department has murdered his son and he is an eyewitness to the incident. The IAS Officer's son, Kartik Popli, died of gunshot injuries on Saturday. While the police said Kartik Popli, died by suicide, his family, however, has claimed he was murdered.

"I am an eye-witness, they (police officials) are taking me....my son was shot by them," said Sanjay Popli, as quoted by news agency ANI. Meanwhile, Kartik Popli's mother also alleged that the vigilance team and the DSP are under the pressure of chief minister Bhagwant Mann.

"They tortured my child and killed him. They tortured my domestic help for evidence. The entire vigilance bureau and the DSP are under the pressure from the chief minister. This is the way they are killing people," the mother of Kartik Popli said, as quoted by ANI.

"Vigilance team asked Sanjay Popli to sign on something otherwise it won't be good for his son. They locked him in a room and took his son upstairs. We were standing downstairs and after some time we heard the sound of gunshots. The Vigilance people murdered him," Anu Preet Kular, a relative of Sanjay Popli alleged.

Ajay Kumar, DSP, Punjab Vigilance Bureau also ruled out the allegations of the Popli family and said that the team didn't even stepped into the house. "It is a matter of investigation. But these allegations are baseless. We just went there to make a recovery of items. We didn't even step inside the house. We only learnt about the incident later on", Ajay Kumar said.

Meanwhile, SSP Kuldeep Chahal said that the boy allegedly shot himself in the head with his father's licensed pistol. "The vigilance team had arrived (at IAS Sanjay Popli's house) for an enquiry and heard a gunshot. After verification, they realized that his son had shot himself with his licensed gun. He was taken to a hospital," SSP Chahal said.

The incident comes days after the Punjab Vigilance Bureau arrested IAS officer Popli and his accomplice on corruption charges. The Vigilance Department of Punjab on Saturday recovered over 12 kg gold among other items from arrested IAS officer Sanjay Popli's house.

"Four days after the arrest of Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer Sanjay Popli in corruption case, the Vigilance Bureau on Saturday recovered over 12 Kg gold, 3 Kg silver, four Apple iPhones, one Samsung fold phone and two Samsung smartwatches from storeroom of his house at Sector 11, Chandigarh," stated the Vigilance Department release.

IAS officer Sanjay Popli was arrested on June 20, for allegedly demanding a 1 per cent commission as a bribe of Rs 7 lakhs for clearance of tenders for laying of sewerage pipeline at Nawanshahr. His accomplice identified as Sandeep Wats was also arrested from Jalandhar.


(With ANI Inputs)