ED raids Rajasthan Congress chief's premises, summons Ashok Gehlot's son

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Thursday raided Rajasthan Congress chief Govind Singh Dotasra’s premises in Jaipur and Sikar and summoned Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot’s son Vaibhav Gehlot in two different cases, which Opposition parties termed a political move weeks before polls. 

While the ED raided Dotasra’s premises as part of a money-laundering probe into the alleged recruitment exam paper leak case, Vaibhav Gehlot has been issued a summons in a foreign exchange violation case.

Apart from Dotasra, a former minister for school education, the ED searched the premises of a party candidate from Mahua seat in Dausa, Omprakash Hudla, and some others, official sources said.

The ED has accused them of leaking the question paper of general knowledge of senior teacher grade II competitive examination, 2022 “and provided it to appearing candidates for the consideration amount of Rs 8-10 lakh per candidate.” Former Rajasthan Public Service Commission member Babulal Katara and two other people, identified as Anil Kumar Meena and Bhupendra Saran, were arrested in this case.

The summons to Vaibhav are linked to the 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.

Soon after the raids, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge said the central agencies, such as the ED, Central Bureau of Investigation and the Income-Tax Department, became the real “panna pramukh (party workers)” of the BJP during the time of elections. Rajasthan CM Ashok Gehlot claimed that ED raids happen wherever elections are held, be it Chhattisgarh, Karnataka, or Himachal Pradesh. Citing data, Gehlot said 112 searches by the ED happened during 10 years of the UPA rule and charge sheets were filed in 104 cases. But after 2014, as many as 3,010 raids happened and charge sheets were filed in 881 cases, he said.

West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee termed the raids by the ED against Opposition leaders “a dirty political game”.

Gehlot’s rival in the party, former Rajasthan deputy CM Sachin Pilot, said in a press conference: “Elections are set to take place in Rajasthan in a few days from now and the model code of conduct is in place but the timing, intent and objective of the government of India agencies’ action in various places in Rajasthan is suspicious.”