Punjab: Mann’s aide moves HC, seeks quashing of CBI FIR

Hours after the high court order on October 5, the CBI registered a criminal case based on three letters written by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) to the Punjab government alleging corruption at the top level.

Chief minister Bhagwant Mann’s officer on special duty (OSD) Rajbir Singh Ghuman on Thursday moved the Punjab and Haryana high court seeking quashing of the corruption case registered by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) against him and five others.

The ED alleged that Gohal, in collusion with Ghuman and other associates, including Bir Devinder and Jitin Gohal, operated an organised bribery network from the chief minister’s office. (HT File)

The petition, which is likely to be taken up on Friday, primarily challenges the October 5 FIR registered by the federal agency, on the ground that the mandatory sanction under Section 17-A of the Prevention of Corruption (PC) Act, 1988, has not been obtained by the CBI.

Hours after the high court order on October 5, the CBI registered a criminal case based on three letters written by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) to the Punjab government alleging corruption at the top level. Following the FIR, the CBI conducted raids at Ghuman’s premises and five other locations across Chandigarh and Punjab.

According to the ED letters, which were based on material seized during an ongoing money-laundering investigation involving GMADA land allotments, a private individual named Nitin Gohal acted as an intermediary for Ghuman. The ED alleged that Gohal, in collusion with Ghuman and other associates, including Bir Devinder and Jitin Gohal, operated an organised bribery network from the chief minister’s office.

The petition asserts that the CBI, without having the sanction required under the Section 17-A of the 1988 Act, “illegally carried the search” at Ghuman’s residence on October 6.

It claims that the registration of the FIR and searches were conducted without obtaining the mandatory approval of the competent authority, even as law provides only one exception for initiating a probe against a public servant — arrest on the spot in a trap case — which, the petition says, does not apply to the present case.

“The Parliament has enacted (the law), in terms that admit of only one exception, that “no police officer shall conduct any enquiry or inquiry or investigation” into an offence under the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988, alleged against a public servant, where the offence is relatable to a recommendation made or a decision taken by him in the discharge of his official functions, “without the previous approval” of the government as mandated under Section 17A of the Act,” the petition argues.