Question Mark On Lokayukta SPE Inquiry; Post ED Charge-Sheet, Govt Remark On Gold & Cash In House Comes Under Cloud

Bhopal (Madhya Pradesh): A charge-sheet filed by ED in Saurabh Sharma case has put a question mark on the inquiry conducted by the Special Establishment Police (SEP) of Lokayukta. The difference between two the investigations is evident. The ED charge-sheet has also put a question mark on the government’s statement in the House.

In reply to a question raised by a Congress legislator Lakhan Ghanghoria in the House, Transport Minister Rao Uday Pratap Singh said no vehicle had been found either in the house or in the office of Sharma during the raids by Lokayukta.

On the contrary, ED charge-sheet says the driver of Sharma had taken the car to Mendori. After the charge-sheet filed by ED, there are questions if the car did not go out of Sharma’s house, from where it came with gold and cash? Nevertheless, ED was unable to record a statement of Sharma’s driver Pyarelal Kewat who did not go to ED office even after two notices.

In its inquiry report, ED made it clear that Rs 11 core and 52-kg gold, found in the car in Mendori, belonged to Sharma. In its charge-sheet, ED also proved how the car with gold and cash reached Mendori. After getting a phone call from Pyarelal, a relative of Sharma, Vinay Haswani, got the vehicle parked in his plot.

During its inquiry, SPE of Lokayukta kept away from the car with cash and gold. Lokayukta just completed formalities by seeking information from I-T about the vehicle. But on the basis of call records and statements, ED proved that the gold and cash kept in the car belonged to Sharma.

Several questions remain unanswered

After the charge-sheet filed by ED, a few questions remain unanswered. To have a reply to these questions, one has to wait till I-T completes its probe and Lokayukta SPE files a challan.

The question is that whether Saurabh Sharma made such a huge amount of money when he was working in the transport department or some other people have share in his properties. Maybe, these people were out of the ambit of the inquiry. Did Sharma have only 52 kg of gold or more? From where did he get this gold? Who informed the Ratibad police and the I-T department about the car that was parked in Mendori?