The transfer of Niranjan Singh, Assistant Director of the Enforcement Directorate, who had questioned Punjab Revenue Minister Bikram Singh Majithia and others in the synthetic drugs case, has sparked uproar as Opposition parties have alleged that the investigation stood compromised by the Union Finance Ministry’s decision.
While the State Congress president, Partap Singh Bajwa, wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday, demanding that the case be shifted outside the State and the probe handed over to the CBI, Leader of the Opposition in the Assembly Sunil Jakhar said the investigation should be supervised by a sitting judge of the Supreme Court or a High Court.
“This is a criminal conspiracy to hush up this narco-terrorism racket by the ruling powers as Mr. Majithia is among the most powerful leaders, being brother-in-law of Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal and brother of Union Food Processing Minister Harsimrat Kaur Badal. The Enforcement Directorate is under Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley. What has happened runs counter to the Modi government’s claim of transparency in governance… It is part of a cover-up operation to save Mr. Majithia,” Mr. Bajwa said.
He said the allegations of a cover-up were corroborated by the recent statement of ED officials who approached courts for protection from harassment by the Punjab police and the bid to pressure them into changing the course of the probe.
Talking to journalists here, Mr. Jakhar said that the timing of summons issued to Mr. Majithia and the transfer of the investigating officer when the case was approaching presentation of challan indicated that the BJP had sent a signal to the Akali Dal and other political parties that their leaders could influence the investigation for political mileage. Through arm-twisting and influence-peddling, the BJP compromised the credibility of the investigation, which could be restored only through judicial intervention.
In a statement, Aam Admi Party convener Sucha Singh Chhotepur said the transfer of Mr. Niranjan Singh pointed to a deal between the allies-turned-foes, because the BJP needed the Akali Dal’s support to win the Delhi Assembly elections and the Akali leadership was desperate to get some respite from the probe that had affected its image among the people. He alleged that the BJP, the Akali Dal and the Congress were making sustained efforts to scuttle the probe.
Manpreet Singh Badal, president of the People’s Party of Punjab, has also demanded a CBI probe to be supervised by a higher court.
