IN THE past few months, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) has either raided, arrested or summoned leaders from the Opposition parties in Chhattisgarh, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Telangana, four of the five states where polls are scheduled next month.
The agency on Thursday searched premises associated with Rajasthan Congress chief Govind Singh Dotasra and Independent MLA Om Prakash Hudla in connection with a money laundering case, apart from summoning Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot’s son Vaibhav in a forex violation case. It has made multiple arrests in Chhattisgarh in two separate cases.
In Telangana, the ED is probing Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao’s daughter K Kavitha’s alleged role in Delhi liquor scam case, while in Madhya Pradesh, it has revived an old bank fraud case against Congress leader Kamal Nath’s nephew Ratul Puri with a fresh arrest two months ago. It has also taken action against leaders of the Aam Aadmi Party, which is contesting the MP polls.
Thursday’s raids in Rajasthan were carried out in connection with the exam paper leak case and Public Health Engineering Department (PHED) scam.
The paper leak case pertains to the Senior Teacher Grade II Competitive Examination, 2022, which was to be conducted by the Rajasthan Public Service Commission (RPSC) on December 21, 22 and 24, 2022.
The PHED case pertains to irregularities in the Jal Jeevan Mission. On September 1, the ED had conducted search operations at various locations in Jaipur, Alwar, Neemrana, Behror and Shahpura in the case and seized unaccounted Rs 2.32 crore cash and a gold bar worth Rs 64 lakh.
Ahead of Parliament’s special session in September, the agency had summoned BRS leader Kavitha for questioning in connection with the Delhi excise policy case. It has accused her of being a part of the south lobby that allegedly paid the AAP Rs 100 crore for “favours in cartelising the Delhi liquor market”. Kavitha, however, did not oblige the summons and took relief from court.
On August 22, the ED arrested one Nitin Bhatnagar in connection with its money laundering probe into a Rs 354-crore bank loan fraud allegedly committed by Moser Baer, a company owned by Ratul Puri.
Bhatnagar, a former relationship manager of the Bank of Singapore, allegedly facilitated opening of a bank account for a company called Pristine River Investments Ltd, a company owned by Savannah Trust of which Ratul Puri was the “settler”. The probe agency has alleged that the company (Pristine River) was used for layering “proceeds of crime” and Bhatnagar “knowingly assisted in doing so for Ratul Puri”.
The very next day, in an ongoing investigation into the Mahadev App racket, an online gaming platform that allegedly cheated people, the ED conducted searches at 10 locations, including the premises of Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel’s political adviser Vinod Verma and two officers on special duty in his office.
The ED also arrested an ASI with Chhattisgarh police, Chandrabhushan Verma, a businessman, Satish Chandrakar, and hawala operators Anil Dammani and Sunil Dammani in the case.
Following the raids, the agency had claimed that “high-ranking officials connected with the CMO (Chief Minister’s Office)” in Chhattisgarh received kickbacks to allow the illegal gaming app to run its operations in the state.
Last week, the ED raided 15 different places in Chhattisgarh after which it alleged that the state Rice Millers Association colluded with officers of Chhattisgarh State Marketing Federation Ltd (MARKFED) and hatched a conspiracy. The agency has alleged that till 2021-22, a special incentive of Rs 40 per quintal of paddy was paid by the Congress government in Chhattisgarh to the rice millers for custom milling of paddy and subsequently, it was exorbitantly increased to Rs 120 per quintal of paddy. Out of the Rs 500 crore paid to the rice millers, kickbacks of Rs 175 crore were received for the benefit of “higher powers”, the ED claimed.
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Earlier, the ED made arrests and filed prosecution complaints in the coal levy commission case, involving Rs 540 crore, and illegal liquor sale, which allegedly cost the state exchequer Rs 2,160 crore. In the liquor case, the ED claimed, money went to “a political party”.
On October 4, the agency arrested AAP leader and MP Sanjay Singh in the Delhi liquor policy case. A day earlier it had searched his premises.
In July 2020, when the Ashok Gehlot government in Rajasthan was facing revolt from then Deputy Chief Minister Sachin Pilot, the ED raided the premises associated with the CM’s brother, Agrasen Gehlot, in connection with its probe into alleged diversion of fertilisers during 2007-2009. On July 22 that year, ED conducted raids at 13 places, including in Rajasthan, West Bengal, Gujarat and Delhi, in connection with the case. The premises included those associated with Agrasen Gehlot and his company Anupam Krishi. Agrasen was questioned several times in the case. The probe is still continuing.
— With inputs from Jayprakash S Naidu
