Punjab & Haryana High Court orders CBI probe into ED allegations against CM Bhagwant Mann's close aide

The Punjab and Haryana High Court on Monday directed the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to register a criminal case to probe allegations of corruption linked to the Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann's office [Nikhil Saraf v State of Punjab and Others].A bench of Chief Justice Ashwani Kumar Mishra and Justice Rohit Kapoor asked the CBI to file a report on its probe within two months."State of Punjab as well as Punjab Police would render all assistance to the CBI in carrying out of fair investigation," the Court directed. .The order was passed in a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) petition filed by advocate Nikhil Saraf. He told the Court that Punjab Police had failed to take appropriate action on the letters written by Enforcement Directorate (ED) for probe into the allegations against Chief Minister Bhagwant Singh Mann's Officer on Special Duty (OSD) Rajbir Singh Ghuman. According to the ED, an individual named Nitin Gohal acted as an intermediary between people seeking favours from the government, and OSD Ghuman. The allegations relate to transfers, access to confidential government documents, facilitation of arms licences and other benefits. Aam Aadmi Party, which is in power in Punjab, has accused the Central government of using the ED to defame the State government. .Today, the Court said the information shared by ED prima facie conveys commissioning of cognizable offences in high public office which has the potential of endangering public interest. It found that the police had only conducted some sort of a "preliminary inquiry" since the sharing of information by the ED on August 03. It added that while notices were issued to many persons, Mann's OSD was not asked to join the probe."The fact sheet [submitted by Punjab Bureau of Investigation] only states that these persons sought time in the matter. Interestingly, Sh. Rajbir Ghuman who is posted as OSD in the office of the Chief Minister is neither associated in the preliminary inquiry nor his response is sought in the matter," it noted.The Court also found that the Punjab Police was delaying the matter on the pretext of seeking legible copies of ED documents."Asking for legible copies after about a month of extensive deliberation and issuance of notice to the persons referred to in ED’s communication renders the note furnished to us rather hollow and lends credence to the petitioner’s contention that time is being bought only to formulate strategies to save guilty and manipulate the available evidence, or the evidence which may be collected, if a fair investigation is held in the matter," it said.The Court added that the material forwarded by the ED contained incriminating material and was expected to have led to a responsible response from the State police."The material shared by ED prima facie indicated involvement of high public officials in acts of corruption and at least required registering of FIR so that proper investigation in the matter would be carried out. This is not the response of the Punjab Police," the Court said..Senior Advocate Vikram Chaudhari, Additional Advocate General Chanchal K Singla, Additional Advocate General Ferry Sofat along with Advocates Keshavam Chaudhari, Rishab Tewari, Diya Bhagwan and Kavita Joshi represented the State of Punjab.Additional Solicitor General Satya Pal Jain with Senior Panel Counsel Saigeeta Srivastava appeared for the MHA. Senior Advocate Zoheb Hossain with Senior Panel Counsel Lokesh Narang represented the ED.Advocate Ravi Kamal Gupta represented the CBI.[Read Order]