CHANDIGARH: A day after the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) raided the Camp Office of Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann and seven other locations, Mann on Wednesday said the agency found nothing incriminating and alleged that the BJP was misusing central agencies ahead of elections.
The raids came after the CBI registered a case against Mann’s officer-on-special duty (OSD) Rajbir Singh Ghuman and five others. Speaking to the media at Dhuri in Sangrur, Mann described the action as the BJP’s “way of working” ahead of elections and said his government was not afraid of investigations.
Mann accused the BJP of misusing central agencies whenever elections are due, alleging that targeting senior political rivals, their aides or family members through such agencies was a standard operating practice of the party. He alleged that whenever an election is due, the BJP starts “harassing” opposition leaders, their associates or family members through raids months in advance.
“The same thing happened in Chhattisgarh, and in Jharkhand when Hemant Soren was arrested just two months before elections. The same occurred in West Bengal with leaders close to Mamata Banerjee were apprehended ahead of elections,” he said.
Mann also cited the arrests of former Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal and Manish Sisodia, as well as Enforcement Directorate raids in Haryana against Congress leaders, as instances of the BJP allegedly abusing its power ahead of elections.
Terming the raids a sign of desperation ahead of upcoming elections, Mann said the state government has approached the Supreme Court to challenge the high court’s directive. He expressed confidence that, as in the case of former Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal, nothing would come of the investigation. He noted that while several CBI cases remain pending for more than 20 years, the agency acted within 24 hours in this instance.
“From yesterday’s raid, it shows they (BJP) are rattled. They did not find anything during the raid which lasted 7-8 hours,” he claimed. “What will they get from us? We have not come here to indulge in corrupt practices.”
Mann asserted that the people of Punjab would not allow any “arm-twisting” by the Centre through its agencies. “Have we come here to take money from transfers? This is the allegation they make. They did not find anything. There is no WhatsApp chat, and there is nothing,” he claimed. He also questioned why the raids were conducted within 24 hours of the high court order and whether the CBI works on older cases.
Urging the probe agency to make the outcome of its searches public, Mann said the CBI might now give his party a clean chit and tell Prime Minister Narendra Modi that nothing would be found and that the agency’s time should not be wasted.
“The CBI should disclose if anything was found. They may have already informed Modi that nothing was recovered and not to waste the agency’s time,” he said.
Mann also accused the BJP of trying to defame him, his family and his government. He added that the alleged 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.
Referring to Union Home Minister Amit Shah’s claim of ending drugs by December 2029, Mann alleged that drugs enter Punjab from Gujarat via Rajasthan, two states where the BJP is in power.
“Drugs enter through Rajasthan and Gujarat. The BJP governs Delhi; let them stop drugs there first. If drugs are coming from across the border, the Border Security Force (BSF) falls under Amit Shah’s jurisdiction; they should stop it,” he said.
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.
“We have big gatherings during our Lok Milni programmes. But BJP’s anti-drug yatra has completely turned out to be a flop,” he added.
The CBI action followed an order by the Punjab and Haryana High Court directing an agency investigation and registration of a case. The court had criticised the Punjab 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.
The investigating agency had registered a corruption case involving Mann’s OSD and others on the direction of the High Court and raided 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. The High Court had earlier noted that the material shared by the ED prima facie indicated the officers’ involvement in acts of corruption.
