Congress leader and former Minister Pratap Singh Khachariyawas speaking to the media during the Enforcement Directorate search at his residence in Jaipur on Tuesday, April 15, 2025.
| Photo Credit: PTI
The Enforcement Directorate (ED) carried out searches at the residence of Congress leader and former Rajasthan Minister Pratap Singh Khachariyawas in Jaipur on Tuesday (April 15, 2025) in connection with an investment scam of ₹48,000 crore.
The ED searched about 15 premises, including Mr. Khachariyawas’s house in Jaipur, with the deployment of the Central Reserve Police Force. Mr. Khachariyawas, nephew of former Vice-President Bhairon Singh Shekhawat, was the Transport Minister in the previous Ashok Gehlot government.
The ED launched a money laundering probe into the case after the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) registered a first information report in 2015 against Pearl Agro Corporation Limited (PACL) India Limited, PGF Limited, the late PACL promoter Nirmal Singh Bhangoo and others for operating investment schemes to deceive investors.
The ED has claimed that the investors in several States were cheated of about ₹48,000 crore, and the “proceeds of crimes” were diverted to various entities, including those linked to Mr. Khachariyawas.
Questioned in 2020
The ED had served a notice on Mr. Khachariyawas, his father and brother, over his family’s alleged involvement in the PACL case and related land transactions in August 2020. The Congress leader had then appeared at the ED office in Jaipur, where he was questioned for several hours.
Supporters of Congress leader and former Minister Pratap Singh Khachariyawas assemble outside his residence in Jaipur on Tuesday, April 15, 2025, during the ED search.
| Photo Credit:
PTI
Mr. Khachariyawas told journalists outside his residence that the ED’s action was politically motivated because he had been speaking against the government. “I am not scared [of the ED]… It is the corrupt BJP government that should be scared,” he said, adding that he had not received any notice from the Central agency for the search, which was wrong.
The Congress leaders, including former Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot and Leader of the Opposition Tika Ram Jully, condemned the ED’s action and termed it an act of “political revenge”. Mr. Gehlot said no one was surprised by such actions of the Central investigating agencies against the Opposition leaders. These agencies were being misused for political purpose, he said.
Published – April 15, 2025 08:50 pm IST
