'Caged parrot,' 'ED sarkar,' 'government stooge' – no matter which party leads the central government, India's opposition has always accused the central probe agencies of favouring the government and the ruling parties.
Amid a series of claims and counter-claims through the years over agencies like the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), the Enforcement Directorate (ED), and the National Investigation Agency (NIA), the current dispensation led by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) constantly faces allegations of "misusing" central agencies to settle political scores, an accusation that the BJP itself constantly levelled against the Congress-led governments in the past.
While the government has hit back, justifying cases against the opposition and alleging corruption, a recent investigation by The Indian Express paints a rather disproportionate picture of the number of cases against leaders belonging to the ruling party and the members of the opposition.
The investigation revealed that during the Congress-led UPA government, 43 of the 72 politicians, close to 60 percent, belonged to opposition parties.
However, during the BJP-led NDA's eight years of governance, which has seen a shrinking opposition, 118 of at least 124 prominent leaders – nearly 95 percent – who faced CBI probes belonged to opposition parties.
The Quint takes a look at the BJP leaders who are currently under investigation by central agencies such as the CBI and the ED, and looks at the status of the probe against leaders belonging to the ruling party.
CBI, ED Investigations: A Look at BJP Leaders Under Central Agencies’ Scanner
1. Laxmikant Sharma
The Case
Senior BJP leader and former Madhya Pradesh Education Minister Laxmikant Sharma was one of the accused in the 2013 entrance examination, admission, and recruitment scam, or the Vyapam scam.
Sharma was incharge of the MP Professional Exam Board during his tenure are the state’s Technical Education minister.
He was arrested for his alleged involvement in the contractual teachers recruitment scam and was also booked for irregularities in constable recruitment examinations.
The Investigation
Besides a CBI probe, the ED also filed a money laundering case against Sharma and others in 2014.
Sharma resigned from the party a day after he was arrested and claimed that he was being made a scapegoat. He surrendered to the SIT in Bhopal the next day and was granted bail after 18 months.
In May 2021, close to four years after receiving bail, Sharma succumbed to COVID-19, with opposition members calling his death mysterious and demanding that it be considered during the CBI probe.
“He was holding on to the most secretive part of the Vyapam scam,” said Ashish Chaturvedi, a Gwalior-based activist who filed one of three key complaints in the scam.
The Status
While the CBI gave Sharma a clean chit in January 2019, the ED probe continues even after his death.
Expand2. Kuldeep Singh Sengar
The Case
A BJP MLA from Unnao, the CBI arrested Kuldeep Singh Sengar in 2018 in connection with the gruesome rape of a 16-year-old girl who had approached him during her employment hunt on 4 June 2017.
The death of the survivor’s father and her self-immolation attempt, citing inaction from the police, led to widespread outrage, following which the police registered an FIR against Sengar.
The Investigation
After the state government handed the case to the CBI, which was subsequently shifted to the Allahabad High Court, Sengar was taken into questioning on 13 April 2018, almost a year since the incident.
He was also booked for murder, attempt to murder, criminal conspiracy and criminal intimidation when two of the survivor’s aunts were killed in a road crash with a truck.
In July 2019, the BJP claimed that Sengar had been suspended form the party following the rape. However, he was finally expelled from the party in August 2019.
The Status
It was in December 2019, that Sengar was convicted of kidnapping and raping the minor and sentenced to life imprisonment.
Expand3. Surendra Patwa
The Case
In October 2021, the CBI conducted searches at the residence of Surendra Patwa, a BJP MLA from Bhojpur, near Bhopal, who was earlier a minister in the Madhya Pradesh government. He had been booked for the alleged fraud of Rs 29.41 crore in Bank of Baroda between 2014 and 2017.
The case is related to a loan Patwa’s car showroom in Indore took from the bank, which was not repaid.
The Investigation
Incriminating documents were recovered in the searches at his premises in Bhopal and Indore, officials told The New Indian Express after the raids.
The Status
Till date, no charge sheet has been filed against Patwa.
Expand4. Mohit Kamboj
The Case
The CBI accused BJP Mumbai unit general secretary Mohit Kamboj of cheating Bank of India of Rs 67.22 crore and registered a case against him in 2019.
The case was related to allegedly fraudulent transactions by a gold jewellery exporter, where Kamboj was the managing director, between 2013 and 2018, The Indian Express reported. Kamboj resigned from the MD post in 2015.
The Investigation
Kamboj also found himself under the scanner in 2019, when Bank of Baroda issued advertisements in newspapers which declared Kamboj a willful defaulter.
In light of another 2020 CBI FIR, the ED also booked Kamboj for allegedly diverting loan funds for personal purposes.
The Status
However, the probe remains underway and no charge sheet has been filed yet. Kamboj, in the past, has denied the charges.
Expand5. PVS Sarma
The Case
The Income Tax department conducted searches at the properties of former Income Tax officer and former vice-president of BJP Surat, PVS Sarma, in October 2020, The Indian Express reported.
Officials said that the searches were conducted because he failed to provide a satisfactory reply to the summons he was issued, regarding his disproportionate assets.
The Investigation
In November, the IT department lodged an FIR with charges of cheating and forgery against Sarma and directors of Kusum Silicon Pvt Ltd.
The ED arrested and accused Sarma of faking circulation figures of his daily newspaper, Satyam Times, in order to get advertisements from the government and other advertising firms.
Subsequently, Sarma tried to die by suicide by hanging himself at a friend’s house but survived. He was then arrested by the Surat police and sent to judicial custody.
The Status
In January 2021, the agency attached assets worth more than Rs 2.7 crore which belonged to the newspaper’s parent company, Sanket Media Pvt Ltd, and also filed a charge sheet against him.
Expand6. Gali Janardhan Reddy
The Case
In July 2011, a report from the Karnataka Lokayukta accused Gali Janardhan Reddy of rigging the iron ore mining system in the Bellari region and defrauding the government. However, he was more recently also probed by the ED.
During the UPA era, Reddy had allegedly designed a “zero-risk system” to mine iron ore. This allegedly involved providing protection to unauthorised and unaccounted mining, with connivance from all level of government officials.
The Investigation
He was arrested by the CBI in September 2011 and accused of being involved in illegal mining in Karnataka's Bellari and Anantapur in Andhra Pradesh.
He was granted bail by the Supreme Court in January 2015.
In 2018, the ED probed Reddy as part of the 2018 Ambidant Marketing ponzi scheme case and he was subsequently arrested by the Bengaluru Police. In January 2019, the ED began a probe under the Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA).
The police claimed that Reddy and his former personal assistant allegedly accepted Rs 20 crore from the firm, which duped hundreds of investors of a total sum of Rs 600 crore.
The police also alleged that Ambidant paid money to settle a case by the ED.
The Status
Reddy's case is yet to be tried in the trial court.
Expand7. Dushyant Singh
The Case
In 2015, the ED launched a probe against BJP MP and son of former Rajasthan CM Vasundhara Raje Scindia’s son Dushyant Singh in a case of alleged foreign exchange violation.
The Investigation
In October 2014, the probe agency started investigating an alleged routing of Rs 21 crore from Wilton Investment Ltd, a Mauritius-based company to Rajasthan’s Ananda Heritage Hotels Pvt Ltd (AHHPL), which was allegedly linked to former IPL chairperson Lalit Modi.
The agency alleged that a part of the money from Wilton Investment was paid to Niyant Heritage Hotels Pvt Ltd (NHHPL), which was owned by Dushyant Singh and his wife, Niharika.
The Indian Express, quoting sources, said that the NHHPL apparently received a total which was close to Rs 12 crore from AHHPL, initially as an insecure loan of Rs 3.8 crore in April 2008 and then by purchasing a total 815 NHHPL shares.
The report further said that the AHHPL allegedly got NHHPL shares, worth Rs 10, at a premium of Rs 96,180.
The Status
The probe agency continues to probe whether the loan and share acquisition is irregular.
(At The Quint, we question everything. Play an active role in shaping our journalism by becoming a member today.)
Expand
Laxmikant Sharma
The Case
Senior BJP leader and former Madhya Pradesh Education Minister Laxmikant Sharma was one of the accused in the 2013 entrance examination, admission, and recruitment scam, or the Vyapam scam.
Sharma was incharge of the MP Professional Exam Board during his tenure are the state’s Technical Education minister.
He was arrested for his alleged involvement in the contractual teachers recruitment scam and was also booked for irregularities in constable recruitment examinations.
The Investigation
Besides a CBI probe, the ED also filed a money laundering case against Sharma and others in 2014.
Sharma resigned from the party a day after he was arrested and claimed that he was being made a scapegoat. He surrendered to the SIT in Bhopal the next day and was granted bail after 18 months.
In May 2021, close to four years after receiving bail, Sharma succumbed to COVID-19, with opposition members calling his death mysterious and demanding that it be considered during the CBI probe.
“He was holding on to the most secretive part of the Vyapam scam,” said Ashish Chaturvedi, a Gwalior-based activist who filed one of three key complaints in the scam.
The Status
While the CBI gave Sharma a clean chit in January 2019, the ED probe continues even after his death.
Kuldeep Singh Sengar
The Case
A BJP MLA from Unnao, the CBI arrested Kuldeep Singh Sengar in 2018 in connection with the gruesome rape of a 16-year-old girl who had approached him during her employment hunt on 4 June 2017.
The death of the survivor’s father and her self-immolation attempt, citing inaction from the police, led to widespread outrage, following which the police registered an FIR against Sengar.
The Investigation
After the state government handed the case to the CBI, which was subsequently shifted to the Allahabad High Court, Sengar was taken into questioning on 13 April 2018, almost a year since the incident.
He was also booked for murder, attempt to murder, criminal conspiracy and criminal intimidation when two of the survivor’s aunts were killed in a road crash with a truck.
In July 2019, the BJP claimed that Sengar had been suspended form the party following the rape. However, he was finally expelled from the party in August 2019.
The Status
It was in December 2019, that Sengar was convicted of kidnapping and raping the minor and sentenced to life imprisonment.
Surendra Patwa
The Case
In October 2021, the CBI conducted searches at the residence of Surendra Patwa, a BJP MLA from Bhojpur, near Bhopal, who was earlier a minister in the Madhya Pradesh government. He had been booked for the alleged fraud of Rs 29.41 crore in Bank of Baroda between 2014 and 2017.
The case is related to a loan Patwa’s car showroom in Indore took from the bank, which was not repaid.
The Investigation
Incriminating documents were recovered in the searches at his premises in Bhopal and Indore, officials told The New Indian Express after the raids.
The Status
Till date, no charge sheet has been filed against Patwa.
Mohit Kamboj
The Case
The CBI accused BJP Mumbai unit general secretary Mohit Kamboj of cheating Bank of India of Rs 67.22 crore and registered a case against him in 2019.
The case was related to allegedly fraudulent transactions by a gold jewellery exporter, where Kamboj was the managing director, between 2013 and 2018, The Indian Express reported. Kamboj resigned from the MD post in 2015.
The Investigation
Kamboj also found himself under the scanner in 2019, when Bank of Baroda issued advertisements in newspapers which declared Kamboj a willful defaulter.
In light of another 2020 CBI FIR, the ED also booked Kamboj for allegedly diverting loan funds for personal purposes.
The Status
However, the probe remains underway and no charge sheet has been filed yet. Kamboj, in the past, has denied the charges.
PVS Sarma
The Case
The Income Tax department conducted searches at the properties of former Income Tax officer and former vice-president of BJP Surat, PVS Sarma, in October 2020, The Indian Express reported.
Officials said that the searches were conducted because he failed to provide a satisfactory reply to the summons he was issued, regarding his disproportionate assets.
The Investigation
In November, the IT department lodged an FIR with charges of cheating and forgery against Sarma and directors of Kusum Silicon Pvt Ltd.
The ED arrested and accused Sarma of faking circulation figures of his daily newspaper, Satyam Times, in order to get advertisements from the government and other advertising firms.
Subsequently, Sarma tried to die by suicide by hanging himself at a friend’s house but survived. He was then arrested by the Surat police and sent to judicial custody.
The Status
In January 2021, the agency attached assets worth more than Rs 2.7 crore which belonged to the newspaper’s parent company, Sanket Media Pvt Ltd, and also filed a charge sheet against him.
Gali Janardhan Reddy
The Case
In July 2011, a report from the Karnataka Lokayukta accused Gali Janardhan Reddy of rigging the iron ore mining system in the Bellari region and defrauding the government. However, he was more recently also probed by the ED.
During the UPA era, Reddy had allegedly designed a “zero-risk system” to mine iron ore. This allegedly involved providing protection to unauthorised and unaccounted mining, with connivance from all level of government officials.
The Investigation
He was arrested by the CBI in September 2011 and accused of being involved in illegal mining in Karnataka's Bellari and Anantapur in Andhra Pradesh.
He was granted bail by the Supreme Court in January 2015.
In 2018, the ED probed Reddy as part of the 2018 Ambidant Marketing ponzi scheme case and he was subsequently arrested by the Bengaluru Police. In January 2019, the ED began a probe under the Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA).
The police claimed that Reddy and his former personal assistant allegedly accepted Rs 20 crore from the firm, which duped hundreds of investors of a total sum of Rs 600 crore.
The police also alleged that Ambidant paid money to settle a case by the ED.
The Status
Reddy's case is yet to be tried in the trial court.
Dushyant Singh
The Case
In 2015, the ED launched a probe against BJP MP and son of former Rajasthan CM Vasundhara Raje Scindia’s son Dushyant Singh in a case of alleged foreign exchange violation.
The Investigation
In October 2014, the probe agency started investigating an alleged routing of Rs 21 crore from Wilton Investment Ltd, a Mauritius-based company to Rajasthan’s Ananda Heritage Hotels Pvt Ltd (AHHPL), which was allegedly linked to former IPL chairperson Lalit Modi.
The agency alleged that a part of the money from Wilton Investment was paid to Niyant Heritage Hotels Pvt Ltd (NHHPL), which was owned by Dushyant Singh and his wife, Niharika.
The Indian Express, quoting sources, said that the NHHPL apparently received a total which was close to Rs 12 crore from AHHPL, initially as an insecure loan of Rs 3.8 crore in April 2008 and then by purchasing a total 815 NHHPL shares.
The report further said that the AHHPL allegedly got NHHPL shares, worth Rs 10, at a premium of Rs 96,180.
The Status
The probe agency continues to probe whether the loan and share acquisition is irregular.
(At The Quint, we question everything. Play an active role in shaping our journalism by becoming a member today.)