Supreme Court Justice Sheel Nagu recuses from hearing Punjab's appeal against CBI probe into Chief Minister's OSD

Supreme Court Justice Sheel Nagu on Friday recused from hearing the appeal filed by State of Punjab challenging Punjab and Haryana High Court's order to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to probe allegations of corruption linked to the Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann's office [State of Punjab v Nikhil Saraf].The matter came up before a bench of Justices Dipankar Datta and Sheel Nagu when the latter chose to recuse from the case.While the bench did not specify the reasons for recusal, Justice Nagu, as the Chief Justice of Punjab and Haryana High Court, had heard and passed orders in some other cases filed by the respondent in the present case, advocate Nikhil Saraf.Though Senior Advocate Jaideep Gupta told the Court that he will not be relying on those decision, the bench said Justice Nagu will not hear it."No, no. We are in very difficult times Mr. Gupta. One doesn’t know, from where the attack will come from. There are 17 other benches. We will sign the order to place the case before the CJI, you mention," Justice Datta said..We are in very difficult times. One doesn’t know, from where the attack will come from.Supreme Court.Punjab government moved the Supreme Court after the Punjab and Haryana High Court directied the CBI to register a criminal case against the Chief Minister's Officer on Special Duty (OSD) Rajbir Singh Ghuman..A bench of Chief Justice Ashwani Kumar Mishra and Justice Rohit Kapoor at the High Court on October 5 asked the CBI to file a report on its probe within two months.Earlier, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) had asked the Punjab Police to register an FIR to probe the allegations of corruption against GhumanAs per the ED, an individual named Nitin Gohal acted as an intermediary between people seeking favours from the government, and Ghuman. The allegations relate to transfers, access to confidential government documents, facilitation of arms licences and other benefits.After the police failed to register an FIR, a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) petition was filed by advocate Nikhil Saraf to challenge the inaction..In a judgment in the PIL, the High Court on October 5 said the information shared by ED prima facie conveyed commission of cognizable offences in high public office which has the potential of endangering public interest. It found that Punjab had only conducted some sort of a "preliminary inquiry" since the sharing of information by the ED on August 3. It added that while notices were issued to many persons, Mann's OSD was not asked to join the probe.The Court added that the material forwarded by the ED contained incriminating material and was expected to have led to a responsible response from the State police."The material shared by ED prima facie indicated involvement of high public officials in acts of corruption and at least required registering of FIR so that proper investigation in the matter would be carried out. This is not the response of the Punjab Police," the Court said..Following the order, CID registered a criminal case under the provisions of the Prevention of Corruption (PC) Act and the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) against Ghuman, Gohal and others. The case has been registered in Delhi. .[Read Live Coverage