Punjab Government Moves Supreme Court Against HC-Ordered CBI Probe Into ED Letters

The Punjab government has approached the Supreme Court challenging the Punjab and Haryana High Court’s order directing the CBI to register a case and investigate corruption allegations raised by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) against Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann’s Officer on Special Duty (OSD) Rajbir Singh Ghuman and others.

The state, through its Home Department, filed a Special Leave Petition (SLP) against the High Court order. The petition has been registered as Diary No. 62464/2026 and is currently shown as pending on the Supreme Court’s website.

The move came a day after a division bench of the Punjab and Haryana High Court directed the CBI to take over the matter arising from three letters sent by the ED to Punjab DGP Gaurav Yadav. The court directed the central agency to register a criminal case and submit a status report within two months, while asking the Punjab government and police to extend full assistance to the investigation.

The ED had alleged in its communications that Ghuman and associates, including Nitin Gohal and Bir Devinder, were involved in a network through which government processes, including transfers and postings, tenders and other administrative matters, were allegedly influenced. The allegations emerged during an ED investigation into alleged irregularities linked to land-use permissions and other government dealings.

The Punjab Police did not register an FIR on the basis of the ED communications, following which advocate Nikhil Saraf approached the High Court through a Public Interest Litigation seeking an independent investigation.

The High Court subsequently ordered the CBI probe, citing the need for a fair investigation into the allegations and directing the state authorities to cooperate with the central agency.

The development has also triggered a political response in Punjab. BJP state president Kewal Singh Dhillon welcomed the High Court order and criticised the Mann government, alleging that its claims of zero tolerance towards corruption had been exposed.

Dhillon demanded Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann’s resignation and urged the state government and police to provide all records and extend cooperation to the CBI within the court-mandated timeframe.

The allegations against Ghuman and the other individuals named by the ED remain subject to investigation and have not been established by a court.