Lady cop with ‘Ali Baba’ treasure

Chandigarh, July 25: Ali Baba’s cave of treasures remains unseen. But DSP Raka Ghira’s could come close.

The woman officer of Punjab police appointed on compassionate grounds after her husband’s death has been accused of showing far too much “compassion” for the good things of life and turning her palatial house here into what CBI sleuths described as Ali Baba’s cave.

The haul at the 53-year-old’s Sector 15 villa included over Rs 85 lakh in cash and 51 super-size bottles of “28 premium liquor brands” such as Black Label, prompting suggestions among the investigators that the mother of two kept the spirits flowing while she amassed her fortune.

Also found were a Smith & Wesson revolver, a double-barrel gun and cartridges of various categories, including those used in AK-47s.

The sleuths are still trying to find out whether the cache was acquired for personal use or from the police armoury. The second possibility is not being ruled out because of arrests in recent months of several Punjab cops over the alleged sale of police weapons to insurgents.

“It (her house) was Ali Baba’s cave. There was cash, fixed deposit receipts and jewellery stashed in every nook and corner of her house. We have also seized dozens of liquor bottles from her house. Many of them are very expensive. We are still evaluating the booty. A search of her other properties and lockers could unearth several crores more,” said a CBI officer involved in the raids that were still on.

Ghera, remanded in two-day CBI custody by a city court today, was caught accepting the first instalment of an unspecified bribe from a realtor accused of forgery. K.K. Malhotra had complained to the agency, which set the trap and sent him to Ghira’s house with the money.

The suspended officer has claimed much of the wealth recovered from her house came from a property she had sold recently and the jewellery had been bequeathed by the family of her husband, who died as a DSP in a road crash in 1999. Their two sons are in their twenties.

Ghera has been charged under the Excise Act in connection with the liquor haul and the arms act. Both cases were registered on the statements of K.S. Rana, a CBI officer who was part of the swoop. The sleuths interrogating her have alleged she hasn’t given satisfactory replies.