CBI FIR Against Punjab CM OSD: Rajbir Ghuman And 5 Others Booked, Raids At 8 Places

CBI FIR Against Punjab CM OSD: The CBI has booked Punjab CM’s OSD Rajbir Ghuman and five others on High Court orders and searched eight locations. The allegations are unproven.

North Desk Correspondent

Chandigarh, October 6

Acting on the High Court’s orders, the CBI has registered a case against Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann’s OSD and five others, and says it has seized laptops, phones and documents. The Chief Minister says the agencies are being misused against him. The allegations have not been tested.

What the CBI has done: CBI FIR Against Punjab CM OSD

CBI FIR Against Punjab CM OSD: The Central Bureau of Investigation says that, “pursuant to the orders” of the Punjab and Haryana High Court and after receiving a report from the Enforcement Directorate, it has registered an FIR to investigate corruption allegations against Rajbir Ghuman, Officer on Special Duty to the Chief Minister. It has booked six people:

Rajbir Ghuman;

Nitin Gohal;

Jitin Gohal alias Raja;

Romi Raja Mahajan;

Bir Devinder; R.S. Nagra;

and unidentified public servants and private persons. The release says two of those booked are public servants and the rest are middlemen and associates.

The CBI has carried out searches at eight locations across Chandigarh, Mohali, Gurdaspur, Ludhiana, Patiala, Sangrur and Jalandhar, at premises connected with the accused.

The CBI investigators have seized laptops, mobile phones and documents, which are being examined “for evidence of bribery and impropriety.” It says further investigation is in progress. The release does not name the premises searched.

What the FIR alleges

CBI FIR Against Punjab CM OSD: The CBI describes the case as one of influencing and manipulating postings of officers, including IAS and IPS officers, and of influencing departmental proceedings. It lists policy formulation, administrative approvals, tender conditions, licensing matters, land-use conversion, property disputes, and revenue and land issues as areas where the accused allegedly took pecuniary benefits. It also alleges that public servants accessed draft orders and policies and gave them to private persons before the government issued them.

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Why the case was registered now

CBI FIR Against Punjab CM OSD: The FIR follows the chain the High Court traced in its order of 5 October. The Enforcement Directorate’s letter to the Punjab DGP, dated 30 July 2026, was a reference under Section 66(2) of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act seeking an FIR.

The ED said searches between 7 and 10 May 2026 in an ECIR investigation into Ajay Sehgal and associates had recovered WhatsApp chats, documents and cash. The ED says Nitin Gohal, a Mohali-based intermediary, acted between people seeking official favours and Ghuman, and that proceeds of crime were collected “to the tune of crores” in cash, land and kind. The ED puts the cash recovered from Gohal at Rs 20.98 lakh.

The court found that the Punjab Police had not registered an FIR or replied to the ED’s letter. Its bureau’s note says it examined the material, issued notices to people named in the chats, and sought legible copies on 28 August.

The court said the information “prima facie conveys commissioning of cognizable offence in high public office,” and that police must register an FIR when information discloses a cognizable offence. It ordered the CBI to register an FIR forthwith. The CBI’s release now says it has done so.

Gohal’s answers

The order records Gohal’s answers to the ED. He said he had known Ghuman for 22 years and that officials and MLAs sent him requests because of that friendship. He described his role as “data entry type work.”

He said he could not recall the horticulture director’s chat and that travel bookings were for family and associates. He also said he would provide ledger and cash documents, which the order records he had not done by the time of the hearing. These answers are his account. They have not been tested in the CBI case.

The Chief Minister’s response

Bhagwant Mann posted on X in Punjabi. His post says the BJP has begun preparing for Punjab’s elections, that a CBI raid was carried out at “my camp office,” and that ED and CBI would now be misused in Punjab to defame the state government and him. It says the BJP is panicking at the public support he receives.

The CBI’s release does not refer to any search at the Chief Minister’s office or camp office though.

Punjab cabinet minister Harpal Singh Cheema said, “The BJP’s frustration is becoming evident ahead of the elections. Attempts are being made to defame the Mann government by conducting a CBI raid at Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann Ji’s camp office. The voice of Punjab cannot be silenced through the misuse of agencies like the ED and CBI. We will fight this battle from the streets to Parliament and will not tolerate any kind of high-handedness. The love and support of the people of Punjab is our strength.”

The petition behind the case

The High Court was acting on a PIL filed by Nikhil Saraf, a Chandigarh advocate. The court found him a public-spirited petitioner, rejected the state’s objections to his standing, and held that his earlier dismissed petitions did not bar the present one. The state had argued that he had concealed commercial interests in a farm stay. The court said the legality of that farm stay was outside the scope of the petition and did not decide it.

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