New Delhi: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has summoned Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot’s elder brother Agrasain Gehlot for interrogation in a money laundering case linked to alleged financial irregularities in exporting fertiliser. Agrasain Gehlot has been asked to depose before the investigating officer in New Delhi on Wednesday.
ED has summoned Rajasthan CM Ashok Gehlot’s brother Agrasain Gehlot to join the probe tomorrow in connection with an alleged money laundering case linked to 2007-09 fertiliser export case.
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— Arvind Gunasekar (@arvindgunasekar) July 28, 2020
The report comes amid a political crisis in Rajasthan, which erupted after former Deputy Chief Minister Sachin Pilot and some other MLAs rebelled against the chief minister.
Enforcement Directorate is conducting searches at several locations in Rajasthan, West Bengal, Gujarat and Delhi, over fertiliser scam.
Raids being held at the premises of Agrasen Gehlot, brother of Rajasthan CM Ashok Gehlot and at the residence of former MP Badri Ram Jakhar. pic.twitter.com/Gtr4bntjTY
— ANI (@ANI) July 22, 2020
On July 22, the Enforcement Directorate searched Agrasain Gehlot’s office premises in Jodhpur and some other locations. The team seized several documents, which will be used to confront Gehlot during his questioning. The agency has also summoned some other, unidentified persons.
The searches began after the Enforcement Directorate filed an Enforcement Case Information Report, the equivalent of a first information report, for alleged irregularities in the procurement and export of subsidised Muriate of Potash meant for sale to farmers. The alleged irregularities took place between 2007 and 2009, and the case was finalised in 2013.
This month, the Enforcement Directorate took cognisance of an FIR the Customs Department had filed, and a chargesheet made available on July 13. The chargesheet related to a “smuggling syndicate” allegedly run by Agrasain Gehlot, his firm Anupam Krishi and others. The Enforcement Directorate claimed that Muriate of Potash was sold in the guise of industrial salts to buyers in Malaysia and Taiwan. The export of Muriate of Potash is restricted under Indian regulations.