Ashok Gehlot’s son summoned, searches at party leader’s premises ahead of polls

The Enforcement Directorate has summoned Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot’s son, Vaibhav Gehlot, in a foreign exchange violation case.

Gehlot’s son has been summoned in the Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA), 1999, on October 27 in Jaipur, officials said. In this regard, the Chief Minister said he would hold a press conference today.

In August this year, a team of the Enforcement Directorate (ED) conducted searches at various locations in Jaipur, Udaipur, Mumbai and Delhi under the FEMA in the money laundering case against a Mumbai-based firm named Triton Hotels and Resorts Pvt Ltd.

The firm’s director, identified as Ratan Kant Sharma, was Vaibhav Gehlot’s business partner at a car rental service.

Meanwhile, the Enforcement Directorate also raided the premises of Rajasthan Congress president Govind Singh Dotasra and party candidate from Mahua assembly seat on Thursday, as part of a money laundering investigation into the alleged exam paper leak case in the poll-bound state, official sources told news agency PTI.

The premises of Dotasra, a former minister for school education, in Sikar and Jaipur, apart from the party candidate from Mahua seat in Dausa, Omprakash Hudla, and some others are being searched, they said.

THE CASE AGAINST VAIBHAV GEHLOT
In 2015, two residents of Jaipur submitted a complaint, stating Vaibhav Gehlot routed illegal funds from a Mauritius-based firm named ‘Shivnar Holdings’ – suspected to be a shell company.

In the complaint, the residents also alleged the funds were diverted from the Mauritius-based firm to Triton Hotels in 2011 by buying 2,500 shares of the hotel.

The said shares were bought for Rs 39,900 each while the original share price was only Rs 100 for each share.

The complainants said Shivnar Holdings was created in 2006 and was only meant for routing black money.

The Enforcement Directorate said in its investigation, it found that the Triton Hotels received foreign direct investment (FDI) from Shivnar Holdings Ltd at a huge premium which was revised several times, violating FEMA provisions.

The probe further revealed that Triton Group has been involved in hawala transactions having cross-border implications.