Besides Darshan Pal Singh, co-accused Shalinder Kumar Pandey was also acquitted.

The duo was arrested by the CBI on August 28, 2002, on the complaint of two Sector-17 vendors, who alleged that Singh would collect money illegally through Pandey, a tout. Vikas Aggarwal and Balmiki Kumar told the CBI that they were paying a weekly bribe of Rs 200 for the past one year.

The CBI had then laid a trap and arrested the accused. The defense counsel said that the inspector was appointed in Sector 17 two months prior to the complaint whereas he was being accused of taking the bribe for the past one year. Vikas later turned hostile in the court. Several discrepancies were also found in the statements of the witnesses which led to the acquittal of the two, sources said.

Interestingly, Shalinder Kumar Pandey is the brother of Arvind Kumar Pandey, who had hit the headlines recently after he alleged that a sub-inspector with the Chandigarh police demanded bribe for him.