Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) national convener Arvind Kejriwal on Tuesday lashed out at the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) after the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) raided the Punjab Chief Minister's camp office in Chandigarh for evidence in a ‘graft’ case linked to the CM’s Officer on Special Duty (OSD), calling it the "result of BJP's frustration".
The CBI took over the investigation into alleged corruption involving Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann’s OSD Rajbir Singh Ghuman and other associates and conducted searches at eight locations in Chandigarh, Mohali, Jalandhar and other cities.
It also registered an FIR against Punjab CM Mann's OSD and five others.
In a post on the social media platform X, Kejriwal said: "The CBI raid on the Punjab Chief Minister's office two months before the elections is the result of the BJP's frustration."
"Ever since the BJP government came to power at the Centre, it has always pushed 'Punjabis' around—be it the farmers' movement, the issue of Punjab's water, or the Punjab University issue. And now, it's even pushing around their elected Chief Minister," he added.
The AAP chief remarked that because the BJP can't win elections by contesting in Punjab, "so it wants to fight the elections with the help of ED-CBI".
However, he expressed confidence in the AAP's victory in the upcoming Assembly polls in the state, saying: "But Punjabis have made up their minds, and they will respond to the BJP's CBI raid in the upcoming elections by electing Bhagwant Mann with 100+ seats and making him Chief Minister again."
During the searches, the CBI collected incriminating evidence such as laptops, mobile phones and documents and sent them to a forensic lab for extracting data linked to the alleged bribery and impropriety, a CBI official said in a statement.
The probe agency said it registered an FIR in the matter following orders of the Punjab and Haryana High Court and receipt of a report from the Enforcement Directorate.
The CBI has booked six persons, including two public servants, middlemen and associates, namely Rajbir Singh Ghuman, Officer on Special Duty (OSD) to the Chief Minister, Punjab, Nitin Gohal, Jitin Gohal alias Raja, Romi Raja Mahajan, Bir Devinder, R.S. Nagra and unknown public servant(s) and private person(s).
--IANS
