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Allow CBI to prosecute Bikramjit: BJP
Tribune News Service

Ludhiana, August 18
Taking a stand against corruption, the state BJP has urged the Chief Minister, Mr Parkash Singh Badal, to let the CBI prosecute the Principal Secretary, Home, Mr Bikramjit Singh, on charges of corruption and accumulating wealth disproportionate to known sources of his income. The CBI has reportedly sought permission from the Union and Punjab governments for prosecuting Mr Bikramjit Singh which Mr Badal is reportedly delaying.

According to the state BJP president, Mr Brij Lal Rinwa, no corrupt official should be spared and nobody should be above law. Mr Rinwa was talking to reporters here today.

The observation of the BJP leader assumes significance as the Chief Minister has not shown any interest in granting permission to the CBI to prosecute Mr Bikramjit Singh. Recently at Issru, he had feigned ignorance about the CBI communication to the Punjab Chief Secretary and argued that he would not act merely on the basis of newspaper reports.

The CBI had registered a corruption case against Mr Bikramjit Singh four years ago, when he was Principal Secretary to the Chief Minister. Following this there were raids on his Sector 9 house in which the CBI found incriminating material, besides proof of assets, including properties, both residential and commercial amounting to about Rs 1.3 crore.

Mr Bikramjit Singh has also acquired luxury cars and other assets that cannot be accounted from his known source of income, according to the preliminary inquiry report submitted by the CBI before the Punjab and Haryana High Court.

Mr Rinwa said that the Chief Minister should shift Mr Bikramjit Singh to a department that will not hinder the prosecution process. He said that the Akali Dal-BJP government must fulfil its commitment to the people of providing a clean and corruption free administration.

The BJP leader also admitted corruption among the political leadership. He suggested evolving a mechanism, which will prevent people from contesting elections more than three times. This he observed may be one way of curbing the corruption in politics.