Punjab Congress on Wednesday demanded that Enforcement Directorate officer Niranjan Singh, the chief investigator in drug smuggling racket wherein Revenue Minister Bikram Singh Majithia has been questioned, should not be transferred till the trial was over “in the interest of justice”.Besides, the party also demanded that the trial should be transferred outside the State to ensure a fair and independent investigating process.
Welcoming the Punjab and Haryana High Court’s “stay” orders on the transfer of ED Assistant Director Niranjan Singh, Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee (PPCC) president Partap Singh Bajwa alleged that Singh’s transfer orders issued by the Union Finance Ministry was a “clear attempt to subvert the investigation process”.
“This was done purely keeping in view the deal struck for the Delhi elections. Delhi elections are more important to the BJP and Akalis than lives of thousands of young boys of Punjab who are under the siege of drugs,” said Bajwa. He said that the Supreme Court in the 2G case had clearly directed that the ED investigating officer Dr Rajeshwar Singh would continue with the investigation process till the completion of the trial.
Similarly, in the coal case, the Apex Court had unequivocally directed that the investigating officer Ravi Kant along with 33 other officers who were part of the investigating team probing the allocation of coal blocks would continue to be part of the investigating team and that they would not be changed without the permission of the Supreme Court.
Both these orders were passed by the Court after the investigating officers were transferred by their respective agencies, he pointed. Bajwa pointed out that the mentioned directions issued by the Supreme Court “reinforced the importance that is attached to the sanctity and independence of an investigation process and that the transfer of investigating officer days before the filing of charge sheet would result in miscarriage of justice and derailment of the investigation process”.
“The sequence of events starting from the intimidation and harassment of the ED officers by the Punjab Police and subsequent transfer of Niranjan Singh, who had summoned and interrogated Majithia, demonstrated the manner in which attempts are being made to subvert the investigation process with a clear objective to shield and protect Majithia,” alleged Bajwa. “The sole agenda of the Akali Dal-BJP Government is to shield and protect Majithia in the multi-thousand crore international synthetic drug racket,” he said.