The Enforcement Directorate (ED), on Friday morning, launched raids at residences and offices of people said to be close to Rajasthan chief minister Ashok Gehlot in the RPSC paper leak case.
A team of ED is searching places of one Dinesh Khodania, Spurdha Choudhary and Ashok Jain in Jaipur, Jodhpur and Dungarpur.
Officials said that ED teams are searching the residences and offices of one Dinesh Khodania in Jaipur and Dungarpur. Raids and arrests made in the paper leak case indicate political involvement in the scam.
Senior BJP leader and member of parliament Kirodi Lal Meena, on whose complaint, ED has taken cognisance, said that black money of Khodania is accumulate in a private locker of a commercial complex in Jaipur. ED should seize those locker and conduct thorough enquiry. He claimed that more than are 500 crores are stacked in these lockers along with 59 kg gold which belonged to people involved in DoIT, Jal Jeevan Mission and Paper leak scams.
The raids on close people of top Congress leaders have sent shock waves in the party. Party workers are sceptical that ED may make arrests which can impact the Congress' prospects in election.
Dinesh Khodania is an old hand in Congress with a great rapport with chief minister Ashok Gehlot. He is a member of AICC also with inroads in central leadership. He has multiple businesses and has been active in Dungarpur Sagwara politics in southern Rajasthan. Rajasthan chief minister Ashok Gehlot has recently appointed him member in Shraman Sanskriti Board, a board set up to promote Jainism and its practices. It is said that Khodania was instrumental in appointment of Babu Lal Katara in RPSC.
Ashok Jain is also said to be close to many Congress leaders and was under the radar of ED for some days while Spurdha Choudhary is said to be the girlfriend of paper leak master mind Suresh Dhaka who is on run since the case came into light. Supardha is also president of women's wing of Hanuman Beniwal's Rashtriya Loktantrik Party (RLP). She is vying for a ticket in this assembly election.
ED has already arrested RPSC member Babu Lal Katara, middleamn Anil Singh Meena alias Sher Singh and Bhupendra Saharan close aid of Suresh Dhaka.
Officials said that the fresh raids have been conducted after information from the three people who are in custody of ED.
“ED may summon Khodania, Jain and Spurdha Choudhary for interrogation. It has got some incriminating evidences of their involvement in the paper leak. The ED is likely to unfold more ‘secrets' regarding the actual mastermind and beneficiary in the paper leak scam,” said an official.
Before conducting raids, Ed is said to have verified their bank details, backgrounds, contacts and role in the forthcoming Assembly elections were examined.
Apart from this, ED got information about the contacts of many senior leaders in Civil Lines. After this teams from Delhi and Gujarat were sent for the raids in Jaipur.
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