High Court Orders CBI Probe Into Punjab Chief Minister's Close Aides Over Corruption Allegations
The Punjab and Haryana High Court on Monday directed the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to register a criminal case to investigate the allegations of corruption against Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann’s office and his close associates.
The court entrusted the central probe agency to investigate the allegations involving Mann’s Officer on Special Duty Rajbir Singh Ghumman and associates, who allegedly traded government transfers, postings, tenders, and approvals for cash benefits.
The high court directive followed ED letters to Punjab police that went unaddressed, prompting a fair, independent probe free from state influence, with a status report due in two months.
A bench of Chief Justice Ashwani Kumar Mishra and Justice Rohit Kapoor directed the probe agency to file a report on the investigation within two month. The court said that the state of Punjab as well as Punjab Police would render all assistance to the CBI in carrying out of fair investigation.
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The petitioner said that the 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. Meanwhile, the AAP, which is in power in Punjab, has accused the Central government of using the central agencies to defame the State government.
