Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot on Thursday refuted allegations against his son Vaibhav Gehlot who received a summon of the Enforcement Directorate for questioning in a case related to alleged contravention of the foreign exchange law.
When asked if his son has links with Jaipur’s luxury hotel Fairmont, the CM said, as per NDTV, said, “I don’t know about Vaibhav’s hotel, he has never asked me to stay there. Why doesn’t Vaibhav offer me a complimentary stay at Fairmont if it is his hotel?”
The ED summon to Vaibhav Gehlot and the raid at state Congress president Govind Singh Dotasra’s premises as part of a money laundering probe into the alleged exam paper leak case has turned the heat on the ruling Congress in poll-bound Rajasthan.
Elections for the 200-member Rajasthan Assembly will be held on November 25. The results will be declared on December 3.
Vaibhav has been asked to depose before the ED office either in Jaipur or New Delhi on Friday
On the ED summon, Vaibhav said, “I have received a summon. 12-13 years ago similar allegations were made and we had responded to them. Now again, ED has come. People of Rajasthan do understand why this is happening when a model code of conduct is imposed in the state.”
#WATCH | Rajasthan CM’s son Vaibhav Gehlot on ED summons to him“I have received a summon. 12-13 years ago similar allegations were made and we had responded to them. Now again, ED has come. People of Rajasthan do understand why this is happening when model code of conduct is… pic.twitter.com/LfgcylfheP
— ANI (@ANI) October 26, 2023
PTI sources said that Vaibhav is expected to seek a fresh date for appearance as he needs to gather documents dating from 2011 till now to furnish them to the ED investigators. FEMA proceedings are civil in nature as compared to the criminal legal procedures under the PMLA. The summons are linked to the recent ED raids against Rajasthan-based hospitality group Triton Hotels & Resorts Pvt. Ltd., Vardha Enterprises Pvt. Ltd. and its directors and promoters Shiv Shankar Sharma, Rattan Kant Sharma and others. The agency had searched the group and its promoters for three days in August at locations in Jaipur, Udaipur, Mumbai and Delhi.
Rattan Kant Sharma’s alleged links with Vaibhav Gehlot are under the scanner of the ED and the agency is expected to question and record his statement under the Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA). He has been a business partner of Vaibhav Gehlot in a car rental company in the past. Unaccounted cash of Rs 1.2 crore was seized by the ED after these searches.
Soon after the action against its leaders in Rajasthan, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge alleged that agencies such as the ED, Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and the Income Tax Department become the real ‘panna pramukh (party workers)’ of the BJP as soon as elections come.
(With PTI inputs)
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