The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Monday accused the Punjab government of indulging in politics and not acting on the letter sent by the federal probe agency’s Jalandhar zone to the state top cop, “highlighting alleged corruption at the top level in the government.”
Jain also questioned why no affidavit has been filed by the state government so far and why all arguments have been addressed orally. “On the very first day, the court sought an affidavit. That affidavit has not been filed to date,” he added. He underlined that the police are examining the matter now. “We will communicate with the final status on this within a period of three weeks. That’s the maximum that we are seeking. We are already in the process. I’ve seen the sequence of events. We are looking into every nitty gritty. We will nip the evil in the bud,” he assured the court, seeking dismissal of the PIL.
On August 27, high court sought response from the government on a PIL (from lawyer Nikhil Saraf) that pressed for a CBI probe alleging that senior officers of the state government are involved in various scams, including cash for transfers; cash for favourable policies; cash for tenders, and other such illegal activities. Saraf, had referred to the reports in various news publications on August 17 about the ED having written a letter/complaint dated August 12 to the director general of police, Punjab, for immediate registration of an FIR on serious allegations. It was also requested to maintain the secrecy in the matter in hand,” Jain told the court, adding that the Punjab government started taking the matter seriously only after high court took cognisance of it on August 27. He further said that the state government started writing to the probe agency seeking some details after August 27, which were already supplied to it on July 30. They are not explaining what they did between July 30 and till the time court took cognisance of the matter on August 27, he added.
“We do not want to politicise the matter, that is why ED told Punjab Police to register a confidential FIR.
Reports had said that the ED had alleged that one Nitin Gohal, a private person, acted as an intermediary between interested persons and Rajbir Ghuman, officer on special duty (OSD) to chief minister Bhagwant Mann, and was involved in influencing transfers and postings of government officials, leaking confidential government documents, facilitating arms licences and securing government approvals in lieu of alleged monetary and other benefits. On Monday, the high court reserved the order on the question of maintainability of the petition, raised by the state government.
Besides, questioning the circumstances in which petition was filed and defending some agencies’ action in Mohali regarding some properties held by the petitioner, coinciding with the proceedings in this case in the high court, Chaudhari questioned the ED why it took 90 days to send a communication to the DGP when it had come across the material regarding alleged corruption on May 7-8. “They are questioning the 14-day delay by us. But they took 90 days to write to us and want us to register a criminal case without complying with the statutory obligations,” Chaudhari said, while flagging that without examining the material ED had supplied, nature of offence alleged and applicability of law in each respect, Punjab Police could not have registered the FIR.
The state government has roped in senior advocate Vikram Chaudhari, considered an expert in ED matters.
“The government did not perform its ‘rajdharma’, instead it indulged in ‘rajnitik dharma,” senior advocate and additional solicitor general Satya Pal Jain said, while concluding his arguments from ED’s side on a petition demanding transfer of probe into the letter in question to the Central Bureau of Investigation.
