The Rajasthan high court on Thursday granted protection from arrest to Union Jal Shakti minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat in the Sanjivani Credit Cooperative Society scam.
Shekhawat had filed a criminal miscellaneous petition in the high court and sought protection from arrest claiming that his name has not been mentioned in the case registered in connection with the alleged scheme.
During a hearing on Thursday, the single bench of Justice Kuldeep Mathur heard the petition and noted that the petitioner (Shekhawat) is not an accused in any of the first information reports (FIR) registered by the Special Operational Group (SOG) and granted a stay on his arrest.
“Keeping in view the submission, it is made clear that in the meantime, the petitioner shall not be arrested in connection with FIR registered at Special police station SOG, Jaipur,” the bench ordered.
Also Read: Delhi court seeks ED response on Satyendar Jain’s plea seeking transfer of case
The court further gave three weeks time to the state government to file its reply.
In 2019, the SOG registered an FIR against the multi-state credit cooperative society Sanjivani Credit Society for allegedly duping thousands of investors of ₹900 crore. Six office bearers of the society were arrested in 2019.
Shekhawat’s name cropped up after chief minister Ashok Gehlot alleged the involvement of the Union minister and his family members.
Gehlot also advised Shekhawat to come forward and “take initiative to return the investors’ money”. Shekhawat called the allegations baseless and claimed that Gehlot “wanted to kill him politically.
Shekhawat’s petition raised questions about the SOG probe into the case and sought an investigation into the matter under the Banning of Unregulated Deposit Schemes Act 2019.
The investigating agency authorised to probe under the Act is the CBI, said an advocate familiar with the petition.
On March 24, Shekhawat moved a petition for quashing the FIR and transferring the probe to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), which is currently being probed by a Special Operational Group (SOG) of Rajasthan police, on the grounds that the state has no jurisdiction in the matter.
