The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has arrested Chandigarh-based advocate Jatin Salwan and his aide Satnam Singh for allegedly demanding a bribe of ₹30 lakh to secure a favourable order in a divorce case pending before a Bathinda court.

According to the agency, the case was registered following a complaint by Firozepur resident Harsimranjit Singh, who alleged that Salwan sought the money in exchange for “misusing his influence” over a judicial officer.

During verification of the complaint, the CBI recorded conversations in which Salwan purportedly insisted on the full ₹30 lakh payment, but later agreed to accept ₹5 lakh as the first instalment. “Rishwat de paise kade ghat nahi honde (bribe amounts are never negotiated or reduced),” Salwan was heard saying, as per investigators.

Acting on the complaint, CBI officials apprehended Satnam Singh in Chandigarh’s Sector 9 while he was allegedly accepting ₹4 lakh as part payment. Both Salwan and Singh were produced before a CBI court in Chandigarh and remanded to judicial custody.

The case has been booked under Section 61(2) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023, and Section 7-A of the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988 (amended in 2018).

Past brush with law

This is not Salwan’s first encounter with law enforcement. In 2016, he was arrested by Chandigarh Police in connection with a conspiracy to falsely implicate businessman Sukhbir Singh Shergill. Investigators had then recovered 2.6 kg opium and ₹15 lakh in counterfeit currency from Shergill’s driver. Salwan was booked under the NDPS Act and later released on bail, but the case remains pending before the High Court.