The CBI is closing in on alleged associates of suspended Punjab DIG Harcharan Singh Bhullar, with a special court here allowing it to transfer key documents, cash and electronic records seized in the original trap case to a fresh preliminary enquiry (PE) into suspected corruption transactions involving unknown public servants.Special CBI Judge Bhawna Jain, in her order, allowed the CBI application, permitting the agency to take over the requisite material — including a diary, mobile phones, cash and documentary evidence — for further inquiry in the PE registered on February 19 as an offshoot of the main trap case.The court is also set to hear on April 27 a separate CBI application seeking day-to-day trial in the main bribery case under Section 4 of the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988. If allowed, it would fast-track proceedings against Bhullar and his aide Kirshanu Sharda.The PE was triggered by an analysis of WhatsApp data and documentary material — including a diary recovered from Sharda’s residence — seized during the investigation of the main trap case registered on October 16 last year.The supplementary chargesheet filed on February 17 this year had flagged that this material prima facie indicated Sharda was involved in managing and facilitating undue favours from senior public servants of different departments in lieu of illegal gratification.The supplementary charge sheet also revealed that WhatsApp chats extracted from Bhullar’s mobile phone disclosed sustained and sensitive communications with private individuals, active monitoring of court proceedings and alleged influence over investigative and judicial processes — transactions described as entirely independent of the main bribery case, involving different beneficiaries, public servants, timelines and alleged bribe amounts.Both accused had opposed the CBI application, contending that the material sought was not referenced in the main charge sheet and that the PE would act as a sword hanging over them, generating adverse publicity prejudicial to their bail pleas.The counsel for Sharda also argued that since the alleged transactions involved Punjab Government public servants, it was the state police — not the CBI — that was the competent authority to probe.Judge Jain rejected all objections. The court held that since jurisdiction in the main case had already been settled by orders dated November 1 and 16, 2025, the PE registered at Chandigarh — as an offshoot of the same case — was legally sound.On the adverse publicity argument, the court observed it was “only a hypothetical situation having no reality to stay on ground,” noting that the rights of the accused had always been decided on merit and not on media reports.Since most documents sought to be transferred were unrelied upon in the main case, the court held that “no prejudice would be caused to the rights of the accused, nor the fairness of the trial of the main trap case would be compromised at any stage”.Bhullar, who was posted as the Ropar Range DIG, and his close aide Sharda were arrested on October 16 last year in an ₹8-lakh bribery case. Sharda was caught red-handed accepting ₹5 lakh from a complainant as part payment of a bribe demanded to settle an FIR registered against the complainant at the Sirhind police station.