Chandigarh, May 12 (PTI) Opposition parties in Punjab launched a scathing attack on the AAP government on Tuesday following a late-night CBI raid at the state vigilance bureau’s Mohali office, alleging that it has once again exposed the “deep rot” within the system under the Bhagwant Mann dispensation.
The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) raided the office of the Punjab Vigilance Bureau late on Monday night and arrested two middlemen and another person in a Rs 13-lakh bribery case allegedly involving senior officers of the department, officials said.
The CBI took the action after registering an FIR on a complaint from a Punjab State Tax officer, who had accused Vikas Goyal and his son Raghav Goyal of demanding illegal gratification of Rs 20 lakh for securing the closure of a complaint against him in the office of the DG (Vigilance), Punjab.
It is believed to be the first raid by any central investigative agency at the office of the Punjab Vigilance Bureau, which is the state’s own anti-corruption wing.
Reacting to the development, Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) leader Bikram Singh Majithia accused Chief Minister Mann and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) supremo Arvind Kejriwal of facilitating corruption in the state vigilance office.
Majithia also expressed shock at the manner in which the accused private persons were provided AK-47-wielding gunmen from the Punjab Police.
He said Vikas Goyal and Raghav Goyal were arrested by the CBI near Ambala. They were accompanied by two gunmen at the time of their arrest, he added.
Majithia asked the state government who approved official security for private middlemen.
A CBI spokesperson said the accused private persons were given police gunmen officially. The role and attachment of the Punjab Police gunmen carrying AK-47 rifles with the private accused persons is being examined, the spokesperson added.
Senior Congress leader Partap Sigh Bajwa said the CBI raid at the vigilance bureau office has once again exposed the “deep rot” within the system under the AAP regime.
“The very institution meant to fight corruption now stands accused of being entangled in it. Punjab deserves answers. How deep does this network go and who is protecting whom?” Bajwa asked.
Punjab Congress chief Amrinder Singh Raja Warring blamed the AAP government for “creating a situation where central agencies are finding an excuse to intervene”.
At the same time, he added, it is difficult to miss the “chronology of events” that perfectly fits into the BJP’s standard pre-poll exercise in election-bound states.
Referring to the CBI action against the vigilance bureau, Warring noted that everyone in Punjab, particularly the opposition parties, knows how the federal agency has been misused against them over the last four years.
Blaming the government for the “ugly state of affairs” in Punjab, Warring said, “The AAP government in Punjab is the most corrupt, having crossed all limits, and has landed Punjab in such a mess to allow the BJP and its agencies to fish in its troubled waters.” Reacting to the CBI’s late-night raid, he said, “The Punjab Congress has been the worst victim of the Punjab Vigilance Bureau under the Aam Aadmi Party government.” “Our senior leaders were falsely implicated, intimidated and victimised by the vigilance bureau. The cases of some of our leaders were set aside by the high court, vindicating our stand that they were subjected to vendetta. We have not forgotten. We are not going to forget,” the Congress leader asserted.
“The chronology, which the BJP always follows, of events unfolding ahead of elections cannot be missed. First, agencies target politicians, followed by the bureaucracy and police with an obvious message to fall in line and do our bidding or face the music,” he added.
“There is complete rot in the AAP government, which has crossed all limits of corruption. That is the reason the BJP government at the Centre has got an excuse to apply its standard election rulebook in Punjab,” Warring alleged.
Punjabis do not need the BJP’s agencies as they know how to settle the score, he said.
“The AAP, which had formed the government with a promise of ‘badlav’ (change), has brought Punjab to such a situation that Punjabis will never forgive it for that,” Warring said.
Reacting to state BJP chief Sunil Jakhar’s statement mentioning Congress leaders by name and saying that they too will be targeted, he said, “What we have been saying has been vindicated by Jakhar that the target of the central agencies are leaders of all political parties. He specifically named some of us in the Congress. We are ready and we will not be scared.” Jakhar said not only a “sense of panic” has gripped officers but has also sent ministers and leaders running for cover following the raid.
“They have begun seeking avenues to protect themselves. But the corrupt won’t get away — every last one will be nabbed. Time for ‘sab ka hisab’ is near!” he said in a post on X. PTI CHS RC
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