The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Tuesday conducted searches at the camp office of Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann in Chandigarh and at the residence of his Officer on Special Duty (OSD), Rajbir Singh Ghuman, as the controversy over alleged corruption linked to the Chief Minister’s Office escalated into a major legal and political confrontation.
The CBI team reached House No. 50 in Sector 2, Chandigarh, which functions as the Punjab Chief Minister’s camp office-cum-guest house. Security personnel, including CRPF personnel, were deployed outside the premises during the operation. The agency also carried out a search at Ghuman’s residence in Chandigarh, with reports indicating that the action began in the evening.
The searches came a day after the Punjab and Haryana High Court directed the CBI to register a criminal case and investigate allegations concerning Ghuman and others. The court’s order followed a public interest litigation filed by advocate Nikhil Saraf, who had alleged that no appropriate action was taken by the Punjab Police despite communications from the Enforcement Directorate (ED).
The controversy centres on three communications sent by the ED to the Punjab Director General of Police. According to the material placed before the High Court, the agency had raised allegations involving possible manipulation of government transfers and postings, influence over government policies and tenders, and other alleged irregularities. Ghuman, who serves as an OSD to Chief Minister Mann, was among the persons named in the allegations.
The allegations have not been judicially established. The CBI investigation is intended to determine whether the claims contained in the ED communications disclose offences and whether there is evidence to substantiate them.
The High Court, comprising Chief Justice Ashwani Kumar Mishra and Justice Rohit Kapoor, directed the CBI to conduct the investigation and submit a status report within two months. It also directed the Punjab government and the state police to extend full cooperation to the central agency.
The development has simultaneously opened a new political front between the Aam Aadmi Party government in Punjab and the BJP-led Centre.
Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann has rejected the allegations and accused central investigative agencies of being used for political purposes. The Punjab government has argued that the High Court’s direction should be examined by the Supreme Court, particularly in view of Punjab’s earlier decision to withdraw general consent for CBI investigations in the state.
The state government moved the Supreme Court in the early hours of Tuesday, filing a Special Leave Petition challenging the High Court order. The plea was mentioned before a bench headed by Chief Justice of India Surya Kant. The court agreed to consider the matter on Wednesday or Thursday rather than taking it up for an immediate hearing on Tuesday.
Senior counsel Vikas Singh, appearing for the Punjab government, argued that the case had emerged at a politically sensitive time ahead of the Assembly elections and raised questions concerning the federal structure. The Supreme Court has yet to decide the state’s challenge to the High Court’s order.
For the Mann government, the timing is politically significant. The controversy comes as Punjab moves closer to the next Assembly election, placing questions of administrative transparency, appointments and transfers, and the functioning of the Chief Minister’s Office under increased political scrutiny.
For the CBI, the immediate task is narrower: to examine the allegations and evidence arising from the ED communications and determine whether offences have been committed.
The searches at the Chief Minister’s camp office and the residence of his OSD have therefore transformed what began as an allegation concerning transfers and government dealings into a wider institutional confrontation involving the Punjab government, the ED, the CBI and now the Supreme Court.
The next major development is expected from the Supreme Court, where the Punjab government is challenging the very basis on which the CBI investigation was ordered. Until the judicial process and investigation progress further, the allegations against the individuals named in the case remain allegations, not findings of guilt.