CBI books OSD to Punjab CM for graft, searches Mann’s ‘camp office’

The CBI on Tuesday registered a corruption case against Rajbir Singh Guman, an OSD to Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann, and other senior officials and conducted searches at eight locations, including Mann's camp office in Chandigarh, officials said. Mann said that the BJP has started preparing for Punjab elections and was now resorting to central agencies to target him and his government.

The CBI, in a statement, said that following the orders of the Punjab and Haryana High Court, “and receipt of report from the Enforcement Directorate”, it has registered an FIR to “investigate the allegations of corruption against OSD to Punjab Chief Minister (CM) and his associates for influencing and manipulating postings of officers including that of IAS and IPS officers, departmental proceedings, matters pertaining to policy formulation, administrative approvals, tender conditions, licensing matters, land use conversion matters, property disputes, revenue and land related issues in lieu of pecuniary benefits”. “It is also alleged that the accused public servants purportedly accessed and provided drafts of orders and policies to private persons prior to their issuance by the government,” the CBI statement said, adding the agency has booked six persons, including two public servants.

They include Ghuman, alleged middleman Nitin Gohal, Jitin Gohal alias Raja, Romi Raja Mahajan, Bir Devinder, RS Nagra and “unknown public servant(s) and private person(s)”, it added. The central agency carried out raids at House No. 50, the camp office allotted to Mann under the Chief Minister’s pool, where Ghuman had been staying.

It also conducted searches at Ghuman’s residence in Gharachon in Sangrur district apart from locations in Mohali, Gurdaspur, Ludhiana, Patiala, and Jalandhar connected with the accused persons. “Incriminating evidence such as laptops, mobile phones and documents have been seized. These are being scrutinized for evidence of bribery and impropriety.

Further investigation in the case is in progress,” read the CBI statement. The raids came hours after the Supreme Court agreed to hear a Punjab government plea challenging a Punjab and Haryana High Court’s order directing the CBI to investigate Ghuman and others. The high court, in its order on Monday, had held that material shared by the ED with Punjab DGP in the matter prima facie indicated their involvement in acts of corruption, including cash for transfers and cash for favourable orders.

The state filed a Special Leave Petition at around 2am in the Supreme Court against the HC order. Reacting to the development, Mann, in a post on 'X', said, “BJP has started preparing for the Punjab elections…CBI raided my camp office. Now, ED and CBI will be misused in Punjab, so that Punjab government and I can be defamed.

Seeing the love we are getting from the people, BJP is nervous,” Mann said. The high court order came on on a PIL filed by advocate Nikhil Saraf, who had sought an independent probe into the matter raised by the ED with the Punjab Police in its letters to the DGP. The ED had written to the DGP seeking registration of an FIR against an alleged middleman and others, reportedly linked to the Chief Minister's Office, for allegedly influencing transfers and postings of government officials, facilitating arms licence approvals, leaking confidential government documents and securing government approvals in lieu of alleged monetary and other benefits.

The ED's letters stem from a money laundering investigation linked to the submission of alleged fake consent letters for obtaining Change of Land Use (CLU) in a case involving a housing society. The ED had conducted searches on the premises of Nitin Gohal, Ajay Sehgal of Indian Cooperative House Building Society, the Suntec City Project and some others in May.

The agency had submitted 200-page affidavit in the high court on the PIL filed by Saraf. The searches took place against the backdrop of an escalating confrontation between the Punjab government and central investigative agencies. The Mann government has repeatedly accused the Centre of using the ED and CBI to target opposition-ruled states, while the BJP has rejected such allegations and maintained that investigative agencies act independently.