The Directorate of Enforcement has come down heavily on Rajasthan chief minister Ashok Gehlot. While it conducted raids on close aides of Gehlot's confidante minister Mahesh Joshi during probe in Jal Jeevan Mission, the central agency conducted search operations at various locations of Shiv Shankar Sharma and Ratan Kant Sharma, directors of Triton Hotels and Resorts which owns Fairmont hotel in Jaipur. ED recovered unaccounted cash of Rs 1.27 crore during the search.
The Fairmont Hotel came into limelight when Ashok Gehlot took all his supporting MLAs to camp at this luxury hotel during the crisis in July 2020 when Sachin Pilot along few MLAs had protested against his own government. Since then the hotel and its owner is under the ED radar.
The search was conducted at various locations in Jaipur, Udaipur, Mumbai and Delhi under Foreign Exchange Management Act, 1999 (FEMA).
The Search Operation
ED initiated investigation on the basis of credible information wherein Triton Hotels & Resorts Pvt. Ltd. received FDI from Shivnar Holdings Ltd; Mauritius at a huge premium which was revised several times violating FEMA provisions.
Information further revealed that Triton Group has been involved in Hawala transactions having cross border implications. During the search operations, unaccounted cash of Rs. 1.27 Crore, various incriminating documents including digital evidences, hard disks, mobiles etc. were seized which reveal large scale transactions done by the group out of books of account.
“Unaccounted cash receipts have been invested in development of Hotels. Further investigation is under progress,” ED stated in a press release.
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