Sangrur: A day after the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) conducted searches across multiple locations in Punjab and registered a case against six people, including Rajbir Singh Ghuman, officer on special duty (OSD) to chief minister Bhagwant Mann, the CM said on Wednesday that his government does not shy away from investigations, adding that the central agency recovered nothing.
Speaking to reporters in Sangrur after laying the foundation stone for a water treatment plant in Dhuri, Mann urged the probe agency to make its search outcome public. “The CBI should disclose if anything was found,” he said, adding: “They may have already informed PM (Narendra) Modi that nothing was recovered and not to waste the agency’s time.”
The CBI’s action follows an order by the Punjab and Haryana high court directing an agency investigation after criticising the state police for failing to act on Enforcement Directorate (ED) inputs. The ED had flagged an alleged “cash-for-transfer” corruption scheme involving middlemen with access to government offices, influence-peddling in postings, and unauthorised handling of confidential government files. Raids were carried out across eight locations, including the chief minister’s camp office in Chandigarh, Ghuman’s residence in Sangrur, and premises belonging to co-accused associates in Mohali, Patiala, Ludhiana, Gurdaspur, and Jalandhar. The CBI subsequently issued summons to Ghuman and his associates for questioning on Wednesday.
Mann alleged that targeting senior political rivals, their aides, or family members through central agencies is a standard operating practice of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). “The same happened in Chhattisgarh, and in Jharkhand when Hemant Soren was arrested just two months before elections,” he said. “The same occurred in West Bengal with leaders close to Mamata Banerjee, in Delhi when Arvind Kejriwal and Manish Sisodia were jailed, and in Haryana when the ED raided senior Congress leaders.”
Calling the raids a sign of desperation ahead of upcoming elections, Mann said that the state government has approached the Supreme Court to challenge the high court’s directive. He expressed confidence that, just as with former Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal, nothing would come of this investigation. He noted that while several CBI cases remain pending for over 20 years, the agency acted within 24 hours in this instance.
Addressing the drug problem in the state, Mann shifted responsibility to central border management and BJP-ruled states. “Drugs enter through Rajasthan and Gujarat. The BJP governs Delhi; let them stop drugs there first,” he said. “If drugs are coming from across the border, the Border Security Force (BSF) falls under Union home minister Amit Shah’s jurisdiction—they should stop it.”
Mann claimed the central probe was designed to malign his government and distract from the high turnout at AAP’s Lok Milni outreach events, contrasting it with what he termed a failed BJP anti-drug rally. He added that the misuse of the ED and CBI would not intimidate the state. “We are not afraid of any probe and will face it head-on,” he said.