New Delhi: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) Friday sent a reminder to the Punjab Director General of Police (DGP), urging him to act on the information and details shared with his office regarding an organised racket of transfers and postings in the state, ThePrint has learnt.
According to sources in the agency, the ED had previously written to DGP Gaurav Yadav that the Officer on Special Duty (OSD) to Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann was allegedly leading the racket for transfers and postings of administrative officers, including those of Indian Administrative Service (IAS) and Indian Police Service (IPS) cadres.
The alleged transfer-posting syndicate also carried out preferential postings, including those for Deputy Commissioner, Superintendent of Police, Deputy Superintendent of Police, and even down to the lower-rung administrative rank of Naib Tehsildar, based on ‘loyalty’ and ‘kickbacks’ of officers.
“A written communication under the provisions of Section 66(2) of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) was sent to the DGP with 26 annexures containing incriminating details about involvement of officers, including those in the Chief Minister’s Office, on 24 July,” a source privy to the details told ThePrint.
In the written communication, the ED sought registration of a criminal case against Mann’s OSD Rajbir Singh Ghuman, and businessmen Nitin Gohal and Bir Devinder. The duo, according to the ED sources, are Ghuman’s childhood friends and classmates.
“The evidence produced to the police chief amounts to criminal offences including under the Prevention of Corruption Act, the Official Secrets Act as well as criminal conspiracy,” an ED officer told ThePrint.
“Evidence related to more than 20 officers has been flagged. Such was the command of this syndicate that the syndicate members used to confirm the nature and allegiance of the officers before an order was signed by the competent authority at various levels.”
ThePrint reached out to DGP Yadav for comment on the development via WhatsApp messages and calls. Ghuman was also contacted for his response to the ED allegations against him. This report will be updated as and when a response is received.
The trio of Ghuman, Gohal and Devinder has already been on the ED radar in separate money-laundering probes linked to real-estate dealings in Punjab.
In July, the ED raided a prime property in Mohali as part of a probe into fraudulent land allotment from Punjab Small Industries & Export Corporation (PSIEC). The agency has allegedly found that the property—CP 01 Focal Point—was allotted to Iconic Space Creator, whose allotment terms and conditions were changed from the rules mentioned during the auction process to benefit the allottee.
“Investigation also revealed that PSIEC plots were transferred to Nitin Gohal and Bir Devinder, who are close associates of Rajbir Ghuman, in lieu of approvals from the state government,” a source in the ED had said after the raid.
In May, Gohal faced ED raids in connection with a probe into the alleged fraudulent land deals involving the Greater Mohali Area Development Authority (GMADA). The ED officers have alleged that Gohal had been using his connections in the government to provide “liaisoning and political support to defaulters” to builders who defaulted on payments to the GMADA.
Right at the start of the raids, Gohal allegedly had dumped currency notes amounting to Rs 21 lakh from his apartment in Mohali before being taken into custody by the law enforcement and economic intelligence agency.
At the time of these raids, CM Mann had distanced himself from the search proceedings. “We have no connection with the person whose premises were raided. It is related to an old account and some company dealings between individuals. We have nothing to do with it,” Mann had said to reporters in Chandigarh.
(Edited by Tony Rai)