The order came on the Punjab government’s plea seeking a stay on a High Court direction to the CBI to probe corruption allegations against people linked to the State government and submit a report within two months. File
| Photo Credit: S. Subramanium
The Supreme Court on Monday (October 12, 2026) directed no coercive action to be taken on the basis of a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) FIR registered in connection with corruption allegations linked to the Officer on Special Duty to the Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann.
A Bench headed by Justice M.M. Sundresh however refused to stay the FIR while issuing notice on the petition filed by the State of Punjab, represented by senior advocate Vikas Singh, against a High Court order to the Central agency to initiate probe into allegations of corruption raised by an advocate, Nikhil Saraf.
Senior advocate Dama Seshadri Naidu, for Mr. Saraf, alleged his client was facing threats from the State, and sought protection.
The FIR had accused the Office on Special Duty (OSD), Rajbir Singh Ghuman, and five other named accused of influence-peddling and corruption.
On October 9, Supreme Court judge, Justice Sheel Nagu, had recused himself from hearing the Punjab government’s appeal.
The State has argued that the High Court direction for a CBI probe suffered from errors such as treating information shared under Section 66(2) of the PMLA as a direction that makes registration “inevitable”, contrary to the 2022 decision of the apex court in the Vijay Madanlal Choudhary case.
The High Court had directed the CBI to probe corruption allegations linked to Chief Minister Mann’s office. The allegations raised by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) against public servants and private individuals linked to the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government include corruption in transfers and postings, policy manipulation, cash for tenders, and other serious irregularities.
Pronouncing its order on a public interest litigation case on October 5, the High Court Division Bench headed by Chief Justice Ashwani Kumar Mishra had said that on a cumulative assessment of the material placed on record in the petition, the court was of the view that a fair and transparent investigation was required into the issue.
Published – October 12, 2026 03:25 pm IST
