The Enforcement Directorate carried out raids at the residences of Rajasthan Congress President Govind Singh Dotasra in the paper leak case and also summoned Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot's son in the Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA) case.
In a post in Hindi on X, the Chief Minister said: "Date 25/10/23: Congress launches guarantees for women of Rajasthan... Date 26/10/23 - ED raid on Rajasthan Congress President Govind Singh Ji Dotasara - Summons to my son Vaibhav Gehlot to appear in ED.
"Now you can understand what I have been saying that ED's raids are happening inside Rajasthan because BJP does not want that women, farmers and poor in Rajasthan should get the benefit of the guarantees given by Congress.”
The Chief Minister has also called for a press conference to discuss Thursday's developments that came just weeks ahead of the crucial November 25 Assemble elections in the state.In reaction to the raids, the state Congress president said on X: "Satyamev Jayate."
According to sources, ED teams searchedDotasra's private residence in Sikar, as well as his government residence in Civil Lines, Jaipur.In total, raids are being carried out at a total of 11 locations in the poll-bound state.
The Congress state president was present at his Sikar residence when the ED officials arrived at around 9.30 a.m., following which he was interrogated.Beside Dotasra, the premises of independent MLA Omprakash Hudla, is also being searched in Dausa and Jaipur, the sources said.
The ED teams searched for documents in the office built inside Hudla's residence.Simultaneous searches were also carried out at the MLA's hotel Hudla Park in Mistry Market, Mahwa, during which the legislator was also present at the location.
Hudla's interrogation is currently underway.According to the information, the name of Hariom Meena, Hudla's brother, had come up during the course of investigation in the paper leak case.Jaipur Police had arrested him about a year ago for placing a dummy candidate in the examination, but he is currently out on bail.
The ED has also raided the houses of Hudla's associates Subhash Balahedi, CA Rajendra Gupta and business associate Nidhi Sharma.According to the sources, Nidhi Sharma's brothers Deepak and Lalit are also under investigation.
The raids follow BJP's Rajya Sabha MP Kirodilal Meena's allegation against the involvement of state Ministers and MLAs in the paper leak case.BJP leaders had also made allegations against Dotasra who was the Education Minister till November 2021.
Meanwhile, the state party chief has been attacking the Centre and BJP regarding the action of ED and Income Tax against Congress leaders.Last week, Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot had also raised concerned over the misuse of central agencies in the poll-bound state.
While addressing a press conference at the Congress headquarters, Gehlot said that the CBI, ED and IT were targeting party leaders in the desert state.