The complainant in the case involving a CBI raid on the premise of the state Vigilance headquarters in Mohali on Tuesday said he was repeatedly pressured to pay Rs 20 lakh to settle a “bogus” complaint against him, leaving him in a “do-or-die situation”.“The past 17 days were like a do-or-die situation for me. I was repeatedly pressured to pay Rs 20 lakh in the name of the state Vigilance Chief Director over a bogus complaint. Distressed by this, I lodged a complaint with the CBI at its Chandigarh office,” said the complainant, a state tax officer posted in Malout. The central agency had also raided the residence of Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha (BJYM) leader Raghav Goyal and his father Vikas Goyal, both residents of Malout. The officer alleged that Raghav, Vikas and OP Rana — the reader to the state Vigilance Chief — were involved in extortion and misuse of the Vigilance machinery.Speaking to The Tribune, the complainant described their modus operandi.“A fictitious disproportionate assets complaint was lodged against me at the Vigilance Chief Director’s office on April 24. I was asked to pay Rs 20 lakh in the name of the Vigilance Chief Director to get the matter settled. Raghav and Vikas separately called me regarding this. I recorded the WhatsApp calls and submitted these to the CBI as evidence,” he alleged.The officer said he was asked to come to the Vigilance headquarters on April 29.“When I visited the Vigilance headquarters on April 29, I was taken to the Chief Director’s guest room,” the officer said, adding that the Chief Director was not there.“The Chief Director’s reader showed me the complaint against me and assured me that it would be closed once the money was paid,” he alleged. The officer said initially they demanded Rs 20 lakh to settle the case, but later agreed on Rs 13 lakh for the Chief Director and a phone worth Rs 1.86 lakh for the reader.“When I paid the money and handed over the phone, the CBI caught Raghav’s driver Ankit Wadhwa, who had been sent to the parking lot of a hotel in Chandigarh on Monday night. After receiving the money and phone, Ankit while sitting in my vehicle, spoke to Raghav, informing him that the money and the phone had been collected,” he alleged.“A CBI DSP, posing as my relative and sitting in my car, recorded the conversation and immediately caught him. However, the two gunmen accompanying Ankit alerted Raghav, Vikas and OP Rana, who were nearby, and they fled,” he claimed.He further alleged that the accused used a similar modus operandi to extort money from two police officers posted in Muktsar, and that the CBI and ED were likely to probe it.Muktsar SSP Abhimanyu Rana, however, said he was not aware of any such case.