The Punjab and Haryana High Court has ordered a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) probe into the alleged corruption and cash-for-transfers case involving the Punjab Chief Minister’s Office.

The court has taken the decision following claims by the Enforcement Directorate regarding alleged corruption and high-profile cash-for-transfers involving the Officer on Special Duty to the Chief Minister. Earlier, the Enforcement Directorate had reportedly sent three letters to the Punjab Director General of Police seeking registration of a first information report, but state police took no action.

Meanwhile, former Union Minister of State and senior BJP leader, Ravneet Singh Bittu, in a social media post, has said that the handing over of the corruption case by the High Court to the CBI proves that the state machinery was deliberately shielding its own.

He said when three alerts from the ED were brazenly swept under the carpet by the Punjab Police, the court had to step in. Senior Congress leader and Leader of Opposition in Vidhan Sabha, Partap Singh Bajwa, has also welcomed the High Court’s decision and has hoped that the CBI would conduct a fair, impartial and time-bound investigation.