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High court directs CBI, ED to examine allegations on Rahul Gandhi assets
The division bench passed this order after CBI’s lawyer Anurag Kumar Singh and ED’s lawyer Kuldeep Srivastava informed the court that the petitioner’s complaint (related to disproportionate assets of Rahul Gandhi) has been received.
The Lucknow bench of the Allahabad high court has directed the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and the Enforcement Directorate (ED) to look into allegations levelled by a Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) worker regarding Congress leader Rahul Gandhi’s alleged disproportionate assets and file their counter-affidavits.
A division bench of Justice Rajesh Singh Chauhan and Justice Zafeer Ahmad passed the order on May 12 after hearing a petition filed by BJP worker Vignesh Shishir.
According to the order uploaded to the high court’s website on Thursday, the hearing was held in chambers and not in open court.
“It is expected that if the complaint of the petitioner has been received (by ED and CBI) the allegations of the complaints may be verified as per law. It is needless to say that the C.B.I. or E.D. may take appropriate steps which are permissible under the law,” said the court.
The division bench passed this order after CBI’s lawyer Anurag Kumar Singh and ED’s lawyer Kuldeep Srivastava informed the court that the petitioner’s complaint (related to disproportionate assets of Rahul Gandhi) has been received.
The court also allowed the petitioner’s appeal to implead the secretary, corporate affairs ministry, in the case based on allegations levelled by the petitioner, accusing the Congress leader of amassing disproportionate assets.
The court directed that the paper book (documents presented by the petitioner) be kept in a sealed cover in the custody of the high court’s senior registrar.
The court also directed that the counter-affidavits of the CBI, ED, and other agencies be filed separately.
The petitioner has also filed an application in court to implead Union of India through its secretary, department of personnel and training (DoPT), ministry of personnel, public grievances and pensions, and Union of India through its secretary, department of revenue, ministry of finance, in the case.
The court has listed the case for the next in-chamber hearing on May 20.
This is the second of two cases filed by Vignesh Shishir against Rahul Gandhi. He is also pursuing a petition seeking an investigation against the Congress leader for allegedly violating the citizenship law. The BJP worker claimed that Gandhi also held a British passport in addition to an Indian passport. The petition is still pending.
The citizenship case is scheduled for hearing on May 27.
