Weeks before the election, the ED calls Gehlot’s son and searches the state Congress chief’s home

The son of chief minister Ashok Gehlot has been called in for interrogation by the Enforcement Directorate (ED), which conducted a search on Govind Singh Dotasara’s residence on Thursday and a coaching center purportedly associated with him, just weeks before to the Rajasthan assembly poll.

The chief minister’s son Vaibhav Gehlot will be questioned, but the agency has not yet disclosed the specifics of the investigation or the date of the interview. However, those with knowledge of the situation said that Vaibhav Gehlot had been called in relation to a FEMA investigation into a hotel and resort company situated in Mumbai.

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In conjunction with the investigation, the ED conducted searches in August and September of this year in Jaipur, Udaipur, Mumbai, and Delhi. The FEMA investigation was started against Vardha Enterprises Pvt Ltd, Triton Hotels & Resorts Pvt Ltd, and its directors and promoters, Shiv Shankar Sharma and Rattan Kant Sharma, who is thought to be Vaibhav Gehlot’s business partner, according to an ED statement dated September 1.

According to the ED, the investigation was started because of “credible information” claiming that Triton Hotels & Resorts Pvt Ltd obtained foreign direct investment at a “huge premium” from Mauritius, which was then altered many times in violation of FEMA regulations. In September, the ED said, “Triton Group has been involved in Hawala transactions having cross-border implications.”

The agency said that during searches this summer, it found ₹1.27 crore in unaccounted cash and damning papers, including digital evidence, hard drives, mobile phones, etc., exposing extensive transactions carried out outside of the books of account.

It claimed that unrecorded financial gains were used to finance hotel construction.

In light of the Congress’s announcement on Wednesday of assurances for women ahead of the elections on November 25, Ashok Gehlot connected the summons to his son with the searches on Dotasara’s property. In a post on social networking site X, he said, “…the BJP [Bharatiya Janata Party] does not want that women, farmers, and the poor in Rajasthan to benefit from the Congress’s guarantees.”

Ashok Gehlot said on Monday that the BJP-led central government was abusing the ED to target the Congress party, which is in power in Rajasthan. Gehlot referred to the “non-stop” ED searches in Rajasthan as evidence that the Congress had won the poll in a different post on X. He went on to say that since the BJP was failing to acquire the confidence of the Rajasthani people, the federal agency was being abused against the Congress.

As part of a money laundering investigation, Dotasara, a candidate from Lacchmangarh for the November 25 election, had searches on her homes in Sikar and Jaipur starting at 8.30 a.m. According to those with knowledge of the situation, the searches were carried out in relation to the 2021 Rajasthan Eligibility Examination for Teachers paper leak.

For the second time since August, the ED was conducting a raid on the Sikar tutoring facility. Dotasara disavowed having any connections to the center.

Dotasara and the ED did not immediately respond to inquiries about the raids. Ram Lal Sharma, a BJP legislator in opposition, maintained that the searches were carried out based on evidence. “Only if they are found guilty should they be concerned. Everyone need to assist with the investigation.

The BJP-led Union government has been accused by opposition parties of frequently targeting its politicians with raids, summonses, and arrests in the run-up to elections, noting a pattern in the searches. These accusations have been refuted time and time again by the Union administration and federal authorities.

Earlier this year, the Congress claimed that pre-election surveys indicating a “massive rout” for the BJP were the reason for the ED searches in Chhattisgarh.

The election dates for Madhya Pradesh, Telangana, Mizoram, Rajasthan, and Chhattisgarh are November 7–30. Before the elections of 2024, this will be the last significant election.

Months before the 2019 general elections, the Congress ousted the BJP from power in the Hindi-speaking heartland states of Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, and Chhattisgarh. It aspires to create the government of Madhya Pradesh and hold onto power in Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh.

In Madhya Pradesh, the Congress lost power to the BJP in March 2020 as a result of the resignation of 22 lawmakers. Its success in Karnataka, where it returned to power this year on the strength of an ideology campaign centered on social justice, welfare, and anti-corruption, is especially encouraging.