New Delhi/Chandigarh: Within hours of Punjab govt moving Supreme Court against high court’s order for a CBI probe into graft allegations against people linked to Punjab govt, the central agency registered an FIR against CM Bhagwant Mann’s OSD, Rajbir Ghuman, and five others, and followed it up with searches at eight locations on Tuesday — including the CM’s ‘camp office’ in Chandigarh and Ghuman’s native place in Sangrur’s Gharachon village.The searches at Mann’s camp office in House No. 50 in Chandigarh Sector 2 started around 6 pm, sending shockwaves through the administration. It was at this office that Ghuman used to allegedly meet the co-accused, said CBI sources.The CM reacted sharply in a post on X, saying in Punjabi: “BJP has started preparations for Punjab elections. A CBI raid was conducted at my camp office. Now ED and CBI will be misused in Punjab so that Punjab govt and I can be defamed. BJP is in panic as it sees the love received from people.”CBI said the case was registered following orders from Punjab and Haryana high court and on a report received from Enforcement Directorate (ED). The investigation centres on serious allegations of corruption, abuse of power, and political influence. Apart from Ghuman, those named by CBI in the FIR are Nitin Gohal, Jitin Gohal alias Raja, Romi Raja Mahajan, Bir Devinder, RS Nagra and “unknown public servant(s) and private person(s)”.Nitin is alleged to be a “liaison” in the “cash-for-transfer” scandal with access to Ghuman. His brother Jitin was allegedly provided access to CMO through Ghuman and Dr Romi Mahajan, who has been described as an “associate” who allegedly worked with Ghuman and helped coordinate appointments. Devinder is an AAP youth activist and Nagra is a “private associate”.CBI searched premises linked to the accused in Chandigarh, Mohali, Gurdaspur, Ludhiana, Patiala, Sangrur and Jalandhar and seized laptops, mobile phones, and financial documents, which are currently undergoing forensic scrutiny to establish evidence of bribery, official impropriety, and financial paper trails.According to CBI, the FIR is meant to investigate allegations of corruption against OSD to the 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 govt,” said CBI, adding those named in the FIR include two public servants, middlemen and associates.ED had conducted searches in Punjab from May 7-10 in a PMLA case and written to the Punjab DGP on July 30 to register a case. Advocate Nikhil Saraf filed a PIL in HC, alleging that ED had written three letters to the Punjab DGP, seeking registration of an FIR against Ghuman and others, yet Punjab Police didn’t do so.On Monday, a division bench of Chief Justice Ashwani Kumar Mishra and Justice Rohit Kapoor heard the PIL and said, “We are not impressed by the manner in which Punjab Police has acted so far and, therefore, deem it appropriate to entrust investigation to CBI.”
