Vaibhav Gehlot, the son of Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot, presented himself before the Enforcement Directorate in Delhi for questioning in connection with a foreign exchange violation case on Monday.
The federal agency had issued a summons to Vaibhav Gehlot, compelling his appearance before the investigating officer of the case at its headquarters on APJ Abdul Kalam Road, under the provisions of the Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA).
Legal proceedings at the ED office
The agency recorded Vaibhav Gehlot's statement under the FEMA, under which legal proceedings are civil in nature.
"I or my family have no links to FEMA or foreign transactions...they gave me less time to appear in the summons. I had sought 15 days time...they should have given more time to me," Vaibhav Gehlot told reporters outside the ED office after he came out for an hour-long lunch break.
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These summonses were related to recent ED raids targeting Rajasthan-based hospitality group Triton Hotels & Resorts Pvt. Ltd., as well as Vardha Enterprises Pvt. Ltd., and their respective directors and promoters, including Shiv Shankar Sharma, Rattan Kant Sharma, and others.
In August, the agency conducted extensive searches of the group and its promoters in locations spanning Jaipur, Udaipur, Mumbai, and Delhi over a three-day period. It had claimed to have recovered "incriminating" documents during the raids and alleged that the Triton group had been "involved in hawala transactions having cross- border implications."
The agency also seized "unaccounted" cash of Rs 1.27 crore and digital evidence, hard disks, mobiles etc. which show "large-scale transactions done by the group out of the books of account", the ED had said in a statement.
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It added that "unaccounted" cash receipts have been invested in development of hotels.
Rattan Kant Sharma's alleged connections with Vaibhav Gehlot have come under scrutiny by the ED, and it is expected that the agency will question him and record his statement under FEMA. He has previously been a business partner of Vaibhav Gehlot in a car rental company.
The senior Gehlot and the Congress party have criticized this ED action, labelling it politically motivated.
