ED going through documents found from Agrasen residence
The ED will do scientific investigation of these documents to establish link with a Kolkata-based exporter firm, which exported MOP with (Agrasen) Gehlot’s company
JAIPUR: The enforcement directorate (ED) is analysing call and message records from four mobile phones, a hard disk and documents recovered from the house of Agrasen Gehlot, a senior official said on Sunday.
Agrasen Gehlot, brother of Rajasthan chief minister Ashok Gehlot, was summoned to the ED office in Delhi on July 29, but he did not appear. The ED has given him August 4 as the next date to appear in the case.
“The ED will do scientific investigation of these documents to establish link with a Kolkata-based exporter firm, which exported the muriate of potash (MOP) with Gehlot’s company. Also, we have an input that there were many conversations between staff of Gehlot’s company, a MOP wholesaler in Pratpgarh district and a retailer in Pali and Sirohi districts, which may reveal the irregularit i es, ” s ai d t he ED of f i ci al , requesting anonymity.
The ED preliminary probe reveals that the Kolkata-based firm made teams of fake 10 to 20 farmers in Rajasthan, Haryana and Delhi. “These teams of fake farmers would purchase MOP pretending as farmers and then these persons would further return the fertiliser to the Kolkata-based firm. The firm would export the MOP to Malaysia and Singapore as industrial salt.
ED OFFICIAL
MOP i s l i st ed among i t ems banned for export,” the ED official said.
When the ED official was asked about the role of Agrasen, he said that an investigation was carried out by the customs department and the Directorate of Revenue and Intelligence (DRI) in 2009 in the export of MOP, which revealed the role of Anupam Krishi, a company that belongs to Agrasain Gehlot.
“When the DRI investigated the case, they found the numbers of trucks which used to come to Rajasthan to buy potash at subsidised rate. Further, they reached to the people who would pretend as farmers. These people had confessed that they would buy MOP from M/s Anupam Krishi in Jodhpur. MOP is imported by Indian Potash Limited (IPL) and distributed to farmers through companies at subsidised rates,” the ED official said.
The enforcement agency is obtaining the records of money exchange between the Kolkatabased firm and the companies of Malaysia and Singapore to whom the MOP was allegedly exported illegally. “The amount exchanged between the companies is expected to be more than Rs 100 crores and may have come through hawala records and from this money payment were made to M/s Anupam Krishi also,” the ED official said.
The ED had raided 13 locations in Rajasthan, Delhi and West Bengal, including premises of Rajasthan chief minister Ashok Gehlot’s brother, on July 22, for alleged money laundering in the export of a fertiliser meant for Indian farmers. The searches come at a time when the CM is locked in a political battle with his former deputy Sachin Pilot.
When Agrasen Gehlot was contacted for his response, a woman picked up the phone. “He is not at home,” she said and snapped the phone.
Reacting to the ED raids, the Congress had said the Bharatiya Janata Party leadership in Delhi created a “raid raj” and was using federal agencies to armtwist lawmakers to bring down the Ashok Gehlot government
Congress leader Randeep Singh Surjewala had said the latest round of ED raids were ordered by the BJP leadership after three previous attempts to arm-twist Congress leaders and lawmakers did not succeed.