A day after the Enforcement Directorate (ED) issued summons to the Rajasthan Congress chief’s two sons in the exam paper leak case, the State Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) on November 2 arrested an Enforcement Officer of ED, posted in Manipur’s Imphal, and his associate in Alwar. The two accused were charged with taking a bribe of ₹15 lakh.
The ED had summoned Pradesh Congress Committee president Govind Singh Dotasra’s sons, Abhilash and Avinash, to appear before it next week over their alleged involvement in the paper leak case, in which the Central agency had carried out raids on Mr. Dotasra premises over suspicion of money laundering on October 26. This had prompted Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot to retort that the Centre was using the ED like a “swarms of locusts” ahead of the State Assembly election.
ACB’s Additional Director-General Hemant Priyadarshi said here that the accused officer, Nawal Kishore Meena, had demanded ₹17 lakh for settling a case related to a chit fund, in which he allegedly assured the complainant that he would not be arrested, and his property would not be attached. The chit fund case was registered at the ED’s sub-zone office in Imphal.
Mr. Kishore Meena allegedly struck the deal for the bribe through his associate, Babulal Meena, working as a Junior Assistant in the State government’s Sub-Registrar office of Mundawar in newly formed Khairthal-Tijara district, who acted as the mediator. Both belong to Vimalpura village in Jaipur district’s Bassi block.
The two accused were trapped by an ACB operation headed by Additional Superintendent of Police Himanshu, in Alwar, when they were allegedly receiving ₹15 lakh as bribe from the complainant. Senior officers of the ACB left for Alwar after their arrest for further investigation.
Mr. Priyadarshi said that the two accused were being interrogated and a case would be registered against them under the Prevention of Corruption Act. Raids were being conducted at the residences of the two persons and other connected places, he said.
The ACB is empowered to take action and launch investigation against Central government employees in addition to the State government officials in cases of corruption and illegal gratification.
The ED had conducted raids at Mr. Dotasra’s residences in Jaipur and Sikar and the hotel of Independent MLA and Congress candidate Om Prakash Hudla in Mahuwa in connection with the leak of general knowledge question paper in the senior teacher grade II competitive examination of 2022. Besides, Mr. Gehlot’s son Vaibhav Gehlot appeared before the ED in New Delhi earlier this week in response to its summons issued in a foreign exchange violation case.
