NEW DELHI: A Delhi court on Wednesday questioned the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) over its probe into the alleged involvement of Haryana IPS officer Deepak Gehlawat in the Rs. Rs 3 crore bribery case, saying there was no evidence to show that the accused influenced any public servant, thus failing to show a larger criminal conspiracy.
Special Judge Sushant Changotra made the remarks while presiding over the remand hearing of Gehlawat, who was arrested by the federal agency on Tuesday. The court then sent him to the custody of the CBI for one day.
The CBI arrested Qahlawat on Tuesday over allegations of receiving illegal gratification worth Rs. 3 crore for exercising his personal influence on an unknown government employee working in the CBI, to secure suitable relief in the Rs 5,000-crore fake medicines racket case in Puducherry.
The CBI prosecutor claimed that Qahlawat had already received Rs. 1 crore as part of the deal, from N Raja, the alleged prime accused in the drugs racket.
The court on Wednesday asked why the CBI failed to trace the alleged CBI officer with whom Qahlawat was allegedly in contact, despite him being in the custody of the investigating agency for almost 24 hours since his arrest.
“So far, no effort has been made to find out which government employee posted in the CBI has been approached by accused Deepak Gehlawat or who has made any attempt to exercise his personal influence over this public employee,” the court said.
The court observed that the responses of the CBI investigating officer were “totally incomprehensible”.
The prosecution had initially sought five days’ remand for Qahlawat, saying a larger conspiracy was required to be uncovered and the accused was required to confront his co-accused.
Meanwhile, Qahlawat’s lawyers argued that he had been made a scapegoat in the case, and that while the other accused came to meet him at his office, no such demand for bribe was made.
The case centers around a network of counterfeit and counterfeit medicines worth around Rs. 5000 Crores.
The racket was uncovered last year after the Puducherry Police, Crime Branch and Criminal Investigation Department (CID) conducted raids on manufacturing and storage facilities.
Investigators allegedly found large quantities of raw materials and packaging used to manufacture counterfeit pharmaceutical products with labels and packaging resembling those of the original drug manufacturers.
Puducherry Police arrested alleged gang leader N Raja in December last year. Further investigation pointed to the alleged involvement of several influential people and public servants and the case was later transferred to the CBI, which registered a new FIR in March 2026.
Gehlawat’s name surfaced after N Raja allegedly approached him to influence the agency’s investigation on the promise that the former had links in the CBI.
In response, Gehlawat allegedly demanded a bribe of Rs. 3 crores to secure Raja relief in the fake medicines racket, out of which an advance amount of Rs. He has already been given Rs 1 crore.
The agency registered another FIR on June 8 in connection with the bribery case, naming Gehlawat, who is currently the regional director of the Civil Aviation Security Bureau, N Raja, Delhi Police Inspector Pradeep Kumar, and other unidentified public servants and private persons, under sections of the Prevention of Corruption (PC) Act and criminal conspiracy.
Last month, the CBI arrested Delhi Police Crime Branch inspector Pradeep Kumar in the case, on charges of acting as an intermediary in bribery.
