Rajasthan Home Minister Gulab Chand Kataria today said that Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje had prior information on the recent ACB raids against eight Mining department officials but evaded queries on whether the action was carried out at the behest of the PMO.
"Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje and my office were aware of the entire process of raids by the ACB...We had been receiving complaints in this regard since the last two months or so.
"Based on these complaints, the ACB sleuths started tapping phones and when they become aware of the deal, raids were conducted," Kataria told reporters before attending a meeting here yesterday.
His remarks came amid reports that the state government was not kept in the loop and the directions for the raids had come from the PMO.
He, however, parried a query on whether the operation was carried out at the behest of the PMO.
"It was not possible to tell about this operation to any other person or office," he said, adding "whosoever, be it an MLA or a senior cop, is found guilty would be punished".
"Rajasthan Mines Minister Rajkumar Rinwa was not receiving all files from the Mines department...What can a minister do if he doesn't receive files from his top secretary," Kataria replied to another question.
The Rajasthan ACB recently busted the mining scam in which Ashok Singhvi (Principal Secretary of Mines), and others were arrested. Over Rs 4 crore were seized from different locations during the raids.
