CHANDIGARH: A day after the CBI registered an First Information Report (FIR) against Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann's Special Duty (OSD) Rajbir Singh Ghuman. The agency on today asked him to appear before it in Chandigarh.
Sources said that it remains unclear whether Ghuman is going to appear before CBI today.
CBI carried out raids on Tuesday evening at eight locations across Punjab and Chandigarh including, Chief Minister Mann's Camp Office, Ghuman residence and his friends residence. Besides that raids carried in Mohali, Patiala, Ludhiana, Jalandhar and Gurudaspur districts.
The agency has seized laptops, mobile phones and documents from premises connected with the persons named in the case. The material is being examined for evidence relating to allegations of bribery and other alleged improprieties.
The searches followed the Punjab and Haryana High Court’s October 5 order directing the CBI to register a case and investigate information relating to alleged corruption and influence-peddling. The information had earlier been shared by the Enforcement Directorate with the Punjab Police.
The other persons named in the case are Nitin Gohal, Jitin Gohal alias Raja, Romi Raja Mahajan, Bir Devinder and RS Nagra. The raids and searches were conducted at the residences of all six persons and relatives of Ghuman named in the FIR.
Sources added that the state government will again mention its case before the Supreme Court on Wednesday, seeking resolution of its petition challenging Punjab and Haryana High Court order. The matter was mentioned before a Bench led by Chief Justice of India Surya Kant on Tuesday. The Bench agreed to consider it on Wednesday or Thursday.
Meanwhile in another related development the Punjab Police has suspended a Station House Officer (SHO) Yashpal Sharma for alleged negligence in duty and detained two persons after some residents of Gharachon village in Sangrur district reportedly welcomed the CBI team with flowers and distributed sweets as the agency searched the house of Ghuman.
The Sangrur police has detained two persons who had showered flower petals on a CBI vehicle during the raid in view of the Chief Minister’s visit to Sangrur today, said sources.
This incident assumes significance as some political workers affiliated with opposition parties were also reportedly among those who welcomed the CBI team.
