ED raids Congress Rajasthan chief, sends notice to CM’s son
The Enforcement Directorate (ED) conducted a raid on the home of Rajasthan Congress chief Govind Singh Dotasara and issued a notice to Vaibhav Gehlot, son of chief minister Ashok Gehlot, sparking a political row in the state ahead of the upcoming elections. The Congress alleged that the central agencies were acting at the behest of the BJP, while the BJP argued that the raids were justified. Rajasthan goes to the polls on November 25.
The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Thursday conducted a raid in the home of Rajasthan Congress chief Govind Singh Dotasara in connection with an alleged paper leak case, and issued a notice to Vaibhav Gehlot, the son of chief minister Ashok Gehlot for alleged contraventions of the Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA) in a separate case that dates back to September— moves that sparked a political row in the state headed to the polls next month.
While the Congress alleged that the central agencies were acting at the behest of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which was creating a “sense of terror in the country”, the BJP retorted that “if the Congress had nothing to hide, it should not be afraid of the raids”.
Rajasthan goes to the ballot on November 25, with results to be declared, along with four other states, on December 3.
On Thursday morning, teams from ED fanned out at close to a dozen locations, including the official residence of state Congress chief and Gehlot confidante Govind Singh Dotasara and Om Prakash Hudla, the Congress candidate from the Mahua assembly seat, investigating irregularities in the conduct of the Senior Teacher 2nd grade examinations held in 2022. Hudla was parliamentary secretary in the Vasundhara Raje government between 2013 and 2018, but quit the BJP, fought as an independent after being denied a ticket, and won the election.
The Congress announced him as their candidate from Mahua, in Dausa district, for the upcoming polls.
The central agency has conducted several raids in the paper leaks case this year, the latest earlier this month, when it searched residential premises of seven people, and reportedly recovered incriminating documents, copies of sale deeds, electronic devices, and ₹24 lakh. In September, ED arrested Babulal Katara, a member of the Rajasthan Public Service Commission and Anil Kumar Meena under sections of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act and said that investigations revealed Katara orchestrated a leak of the question paper for the December 2022 exam.
Separately, Vaibhav Gehlot has been asked to depose before ED in a FEMA case against the Rajasthan-based hospitality group Triton Hotels and Resorts, Vardha Enterprises Private Ltd, and its directors and promoters Shiv Shankar Sharma, Rattan Kant Sharma, and others. The agency searched the group and its promoters for three days in August, and Ratan Kant Sharma’s alleged links with Vaibhav Gehlot are under the scanner, ED officials said.
ED, in a statement on September 1, said the FEMA probe had been kicked off against Triton Hotels and Resorts Pvt Ltd, Vardha Enterprises Pvt Ltd and its directors and promoters.
The agency said it launched the probe on the basis of “credible information”, alleging Triton Hotels & Resorts Pvt Ltd received foreign direct investment (FDI) from Mauritius at a “huge premium” which was revised several times violating FEMA provisions. “...Triton Group has been involved in Hawala transactions having cross-border implications,” ED said in September.
The agency said it recovered unaccounted cash of ₹1.27 crore, incriminating documents, including digital evidence, hard disks, mobiles during raids this summer, revealing large-scale transactions done out of books of account. It alleged unaccounted cash receipts were invested in the development of hotels.
In a post on X, Gehlot said that the raids came a day after he had announced guarantees for the women of Rajasthan. “Now you can understand what I have been saying – that raids are happening in Rajasthan because the BJP does not want women, farmers and the poor in the state to get the guarantees promised by the Congress government,” Gehlot said. At a public rally in Jhunjhunu on Wednesday, Gehlot had promised cooking gas cylinders at ₹500 to over 10.5 million families, and an annual honorarium of ₹10,000 to the woman head of every family in the state.
Gehlot, later in a press conference, said central agencies such as ED, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and the Income Tax (IT) department were losing credibility. “They once had credibility but now the opposite is happening and the situation is worrying. The question is not about raids on the PCC chief or summons against my son. These agencies have created a sense of terror in the country,” Gehlot said.
The chief minister, however, said that in the recent past, ED raids have made no impact on the eventual election results. “Raids were conducted 22 times in Karnataka and the Congress won. They were conducted on the state president there DK Shivakumar in Karnataka and on Dotasara here. The BJP was ousted there and will get wiped out here,” he said.
Senior Congress leader Sachin Pilot said that workers of the Congress were united in their solidarity. “BJP’s nervousness is clearly visible in such actions because the public has made up its mind to bring the Congress government back in Rajasthan in the upcoming elections,” he said.
Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge said that central agencies become “panna pramukhs”(party workers) of the BJP as soon as elections arrive. “Seeing its certain defeat in Rajasthan, the BJP has made its last throw of the dice. After Chhattisgarh, the ED has also entered the election campaign in Rajasthan and started action against Congress leaders,” Kharge said.
Speaking to reporters in Sikar, Vaibhav Gehlot, who is president of the Rajasthan Cricket Association confirmed that he had received a summons. “Similar allegations were made 12 to 13 years ago and we had responded to them. Now again, ED has come. People of Rajasthan understand why this is happening when the model code of conduct is in force,” Gehlot said.
Even as raids continued through the day into the evening, Congress workers collected outside the Civil Lines residence of Dotasara, raising slogans, forcing the deployment of a heavy police presence.
Rajasthan BJP president CP Joshi said, “He (the CM) is more worried about his son Vaibhav than the vaibhav (glory) of Rajasthan. This is an old case. If he (Gehlot) had not told agencies to snoop on MLAs and ministers to save his government, but had asked them to prevent corruption and crime, this day would not have come.
