Jaipur: BJP has unleashed terror: Gehlot on ED raids

Jaipur : Turning the heat on the ruling Congress in poll-bound Rajasthan, the Enforcement Directorate on Thursday raided the premises of state Congress president Govind Singh Dotasra in Jaipur and Sikar as part of a money laundering probe into the alleged exam paper leak case and summoned Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot’s son in a foreign exchange violation case.

Besides the premises of Dotasra, a former minister for school education, the agency is also searching the premises of party candidate from Mahua seat in Dausa, Omprakash Hudla, and some others, official sources said. An armed escort of central paramilitary force CRPF accompanied the ED teams.

The Congress slammed the Centre over the ED’s action against its leaders in Rajasthan and accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi of taking the help of probe agencies in fighting polls and said people would give the BJP a befitting reply Chief Minister Gehlot said the ED raids are being done everyday in the state “as the BJP does not want that Congress party’s guarantees reach the women, farmers and the poor.” Elections for the 200-member Rajasthan Assembly will be held on November 25. The results will be declared on November 3.

Dotasra is the party candidate from Lacchmangarh seat of Sikar against BJP’s Subhash Maharia. He is also the sitting MLA from this seat while Hudla is an independent MLA and the Congress has fielded him from the Mahua assembly seat this time. The money laundering case stems from FIRs filed by the Rajasthan Police against the accused.

The accused, “in connivance with each other leaked the question paper of general knowledge of senior teacher grade II competitive examination, 2022 which was scheduled to be conducted by RPSC (Rajasthan Public Service Commission) on 21.12.2022, 22.12.2022 and 24.12.2022 and provided it to appearing candidates for the consideration amount of Rs 8-10 lakh per candidate,” the ED had said.

Former Rajasthan Public Service Commission (RPSC) member Babulal Katara and two other people identified as Anil Kumar Meena and Bhupendra Saran were arrested by the ED in this case.

The agency also summoned the Rajasthan chief minister’s son Vaibhav Gehlot for questioning in a case related to alleged contravention of the foreign exchange law. Vaibhav Gehlot has been asked to depose before the federal agency’s office either in Jaipur or in New Delhi on Friday, the sources said.

The summons are linked to the recent ED raids against Rajasthan based hospitality group Triton Hotels & Resorts Pvt. Ltd., Vardha Enterprises Pvt. Ltd. and its directors and promoters Shiv Shankar Sharma, Rattan Kant Sharma and others.

The agency had searched the group and its promoters for three days in August at locations in Jaipur, Udaipur, Mumbai and Delhi. Rattan Kant Sharma’s alleged links with Vaibhav Gehlot are allegedly under the scanner of the ED and it is expected to question and record his statement under the Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA).