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Punjab CM Bhagwant Mann's aide, 5 others booked in graft case as CBI takes over ED probe
The probe follows ED allegations of a bribery network involving postings, confidential government files, licences, tenders and land-related matters.
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The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Tuesday booked Rajbir Ghuman, officer on special duty (OSD) to Punjab chief minister Bhagwant Mann, and five others in a corruption case on the high court’s orders and raided eight locations, including the official residence of CM’s aide in Chandigarh.
The central agency’s action came a day after the HC ordered it to conduct probe into Enforcement Directorate (ED) letters to the DGP alleging corruption linked to the chief minister’s office and submit a status report within two months.
Reacting to the development, Mann posted on ‘X’ in Gurmukhi that the BJP has started preparing for Punjab elections. “The CBI raided my camp office...now the ED and CBI will be misused in Punjab, so that Punjab govt and me can be defamed. The BJP is nervous seeing the love from people,” he posted. A camp office is generally a secondary, dedicated workspace separate from official premises where senior government functionaries function, meet people and hold other meetings.
The CBI, however, said clarified that there was no raid on the “chief minister’s office” and that searches took place at one of the ‘kothis’ (houses) being used by the OSD.
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Within hours of registering the FIR, CBI teams launched searches at eight locations spanning Chandigarh, Mohali, Gurdaspur, Ludhiana, Patiala, Sangrur, and Jalandhar. Investigators raided Ghuman’s official residence in Sector 2, Chandigarh, as well as his ancestral home in Gharachon village in Sangrur district. According to a CBI release, electronic devices, including laptops and mobile phones, alongside sensitive documents, were seized.
Besides Ghuman, the FIR names five individuals: Alleged middleman Nitin Gohal, Jitin Gohal alias Raja, Romi Raja Mahajan, Bir Devinder, and RS Nagra. The allegations against them include influencing and manipulating postings of IAS and IPS officers, departmental proceedings, matters pertaining to policy formulation, administrative approvals, tender conditions, licensing matters, land use conversion matters, revenue and land-related issues in lieu of pecuniary benefits, said the CBI spokesperson.
The probe agency also alleged that public officials leaked internal drafts of policy documents and government notifications to private beneficiaries before their formal release.
The HC order came on a public interest litigation filed by advocate Nikhil Saraf, who had sought an independent probe into the matter raised by the ED with Punjab 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 noted.
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The ED had written three letters to the DGP for the registration of a case against an alleged middleman Gohal and others. According to the ED letters, derived from material seized during an ongoing money-laundering investigation involving GMADA land allotments, Gohal acted as an intermediary for Ghuman. The ED alleged that Gohal, in collusion with Ghuman and other associates, including Bir Devinder and Jitin Gohal, operated an organised bribery network out of the chief minister’s office. The network allegedly collected crores in cash and real estate in exchange for influencing IAS/IPS postings, leaking confidential government files, facilitating arms licences, and clearing commercial projects.
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.
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In Sangrur, a 5-member CBI team conducted raid at Ghuman’s house in his ancestral village Gharachon. The team arrived in a Delhi-registered car. Bhawanigarh DSP Satnam Singh said the CBI raid started around 6 pm. A team of the federal agency also conducted searches at the residence of youth AAP leader Bir Devinder in Phase 11, Mohali, and at a flat of Nitin Gohal in Western Towers on Nijjer Road, Kharar. Both Devinder and Gohal were not present at their residences. (With inputs from HTC Mohali, Sangrur)
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