A sessions court in Jaipur has directed a Metropolitan Magistrate to send a complaint for investigation in a credit society scam, allegedly involving Union Minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat, to the Special Operations Group (SOG) of the Rajasthan police. The complaint had sought a probe into Mr. Shekhawat’s role as an accused.
The matter, being investigated by the SOG since last year, pertains to the Sanjivani Credit Cooperative Society scam, in which thousands of investors allegedly lost about ₹900 crore. The complainants alleged that money was transferred to the companies owned Mr. Shekhawat, his wife and others, but their roles were never investigated.
The court’s order has come in the midst of a political crisis in the State, with the ruling Congress alleging that the Union Minister was involved in a conspiracy with some dissident MLAs to topple the Ashok Gehlot government. The SOG has already sent a notice to Mr. Shekhawat while probing some audio tapes containing the conversations about horse-trading of MLAs.
Additional District & Sessions Judge Pawan Kumar directed an Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate’s court on Tuesday to send the complaint against Mr. Shekhawat — elected to Lok Sabha from Jodhpur — to the SOG. The first information report in the case was registered on August 23, 2019.
The credit society, which started functioning in 2008, was offering high interest rates on deposits. It allegedly duped the depositors by siphoning off the money under fake loans. The SOG’s charge-sheet filed in the court did not mention Mr. Shekhawat as an accused.
An application was later filed in the Magistrate’s court for including the Union Minister’s name in the charge-sheet but was rejected. The applicants then moved a revision petition in the court of Additional District & Sessions Judge.
