Chief Minister of Rajasthan Ashok Gehlot and ex-AAP leader and poet Kumar Vishwas (Image: Organiser)
The Anti Corruption Bureau (ACB) in Rajasthan has arrested four people including Gopal Kesawat, a prominent Congress leader and three others. The ACB has also named big faces in the FIR including famous poet and ex-Aam Aadmi Party leader, Kumar Vishwas’ wife and the wife of Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot’s political advisor.
The other arrested accused have been identified as–Anil Kumar, Brahmprakash and Ravinder Sharma. All these have been named or booked in relation to bribery for exchanging OMR sheets in the State Public Service Commission (RPSC) examination.
Additional Director General of Police (ADG), Hemant Priydarshi said the Sikar unit of the ACB was approached by the complainant alleging that a sum of Rs 40 lakh was being demanded by Gopal Kesawat, former chairperson of the Board, and three others — Anil Kumar, Brahmprakash and Ravinder Sharma.
The ACB team in Rajasthan has included the name of Kumar Vishwas’ wife Manju Sharma in an FIR filed in a Rs 18.50 lakh bribery case. While Manju Sharma’s name has been included in the FIR, ACB’s officer Priyadarshi said that no role of RPSC has been detected in the case so far.
He mentioned that action will be taken if any role of RPSC is found during the investigation after analysing call detail records of the accused, their chats, messages and other available evidence.
He said that the complainant said that he knew Manju Sharma.
“Complainant in fact said that Gopal asked for a bribe in the name of Manju,” said other officials.
The FIR hence was registered on the basis of a complaint filed by complainants’ advocates Hardeep Singh and Sundar, who gave a written complaint to ACB Sikar on July 7 stating that an accused, Anil, had asked for a bribe of Rs 40 lakh in the name of Manju and RPSC chairman.
They said that Rs 25 lakh was to be given first and then Rs 15 lakh after posting. The candidate would be given a job in the EO position in return for this money. Hence the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) lodged the complaint.
Notably, The bribe was demanded in lieu of getting the exam of executive officer conducted by the Rajasthan Public Service Commission (RPSC) cleared.
After verification of the allegations, it was found that Rs 25 lakh was demanded by the accused, officials said.
The ACB caught Anil and Brahmprakash in Sikar while taking a bribe of Rs 18.50 lakh on July 14 and the same day, Ravindra Sharma was arrested while accepting a sum of Rs 7.50 lakh (from 18.50 lakh) in Sikar, they said.
Kesawat was arrested in Jaipur on July 15 while taking Rs 7.50 lakh. He had asked the complainant that he has connections with two members of the RPSC but in our primary investigation, no role of any RPSC member or official has been found yet, the ADG said.
Kesawat is a former Congress leader. He was expelled from the party in November 2018 for contesting Assembly elections as a rebel candidate.
Other than Manju Sharma and Kesawat, the name of the former IAS officer and current political advisor of CM Gehlot, Niranjan Arya’s wife, Sangeeta Arya.
It is noteworthy that the Congress-led Rajasthan government has faced allegations of scams in different departments over the year. For instance, the IT department scam, nursing officers’ job scam and others.
Vishwas called RSS ‘illiterate’
Ex-AAP leader, Vishwas said once he had called an RSS worker “illiterate”, unlike communists, who were “ill-informed”.
“A boy who works with the RSS asked me how the budget would be. I said, you have voted the government for Ram Rajya (Lord Ram Rule), so the budget would also be alike,” claimed Kumar Vishwas.
“There was no Budget in Ram Rajya, said the boy, to which I said this was your problem. While you are illiterate, communists are ill-informed.”
BJP leader Lokendra Parashar reacted strongly to his remarks, saying this “arrogance will be the cause of your downfall.”
However, Kumar Vishwas later released a clip and apologised, saying his words were misinterpreted.
Vishwas was seen saying his words were misinterpreted. In a video, Vishwas said that he was talking about a boy who works in his office and, coincidentally, is also an RSS worker.”He studies less and speaks more. I told him that he should study. I said leftists are ill-informed and you are illiterate.”
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