Chandigarh
 
Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann’s OSD Rajbir Singh Ghuman has skipped CBI questioning for the second time in three days, despite fresh summons being pasted at his residence in Sangrur and the CM’s camp office in Chandigarh. Instead of appearing before the agency on Friday in a corruption probe linked to alleged payments for postings, policy favours and tenders, Ghuman is learnt to have sent a legal reply, even as the Supreme Court challenge to the investigation hit a roadblock with a judge’s recusal.
 
The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) had summoned Ghuman to its Sector-30 office in Chandigarh at 3 pm on Friday to join the investigation. Fresh notices were issued early in the morning and pasted at his residence in Gharachon village of Sangrur district and the Chief Minister’s camp office in Sector 2, Chandigarh.
 
Ghuman was not the only person who stayed away. Chuspinder Singh Chahal, whose chats figure in the 251-page FIR registered by the CBI on the directions of the Punjab and Haryana High Court, and other accused had also been summoned but did not appear before the agency.
 
The CBI has registered a case against Ghuman and five others — Nitin Gohal, Jitin Gohal, Romi Raja Mahajan, Rajdeep Singh Nagra, and Bir Devinder Singh — following the High Court’s directions for a probe into allegations of corruption involving public officials.
 
The case concerns allegations of payments for postings, favourable policy decisions, and tenders. The allegations are under investigation.
 
Ghuman had also skipped questioning on Wednesday, when he was summoned to appear at 2.30 pm. Officials in the Chief Minister’s Office had then maintained that he had not received the summons.
 
On Thursday, Mann said his OSD would join the investigation if the notices were properly served. The Chief Minister also denied any wrongdoing in the functioning of his office.
 
The latest development coincided with a setback to the Punjab Government’s challenge to the High Court order directing the CBI to register a criminal case and investigate the allegations linked to the Chief Minister’s Office.
 
The Supreme Court Double Bench of Justice Dipankar Datta and Justice Sheel Nagu was scheduled to hear the state government’s plea on Friday. However, Justice Nagu recused himself from the matter after Justice Datta observed that the case could not be heard by him.
 
The Bench said it would sign an order directing that the matter be placed before the Chief Justice of India for the constitution of another Bench. The Supreme Court observed that it did not know “where the attack will come from” if a judge concerned did not withdraw himself from a case.
 
Separately, Ghuman approached the special CBI court in Chandigarh, seeking contempt proceedings against the investigating team over the publication of the FIR. The court issued notice to the CBI and directed the agency to file its response by October 12.