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Jagdeep Dhankhar was forced to resign as Vice President by Modi govt using ED threat: UBT's Sanjay Raut in book
Raut updates English version of his book, ‘Unlikely Paradise’; writes on “actions of Enforcement Directorate (ED) that earned it moniker of a BJP ‘shakha’"
Shiv Sena (UBT) MP Sanjay Raut has claimed in a new edition of his prison memoir that Jagdeep Dhankhar was pressured into resigning as Vice President by the Narendra Modi government using the threat of central probe agencies as the NDA regime did not like his “independent decisions”.
Dhankhar had resigned in July 2025 abruptly, citing health concerns.
In the chapter on him, Raut has claimed that “ED had prepared a file against Dhankhar regarding his property deals and money transferred to the overseas accounts which was used when Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led government became angry with Dhankhar’s independent political decisions”.
Raut has added four chapters to the English version of his book, ‘Unlikely Paradise’, originally released last year. He writes about “actions of the Enforcement Directorate (ED) that earned it the moniker of a BJP ‘shakha’, and how it was used by the central government against democratic institutions and posts such as the Election Commission of India (ECI), and the pressures put on vice president Jagdeep Dhankhar to resign”.
Two of the four chapters are centred around the ED and related issues: ‘Supreme Court v/s ED’ and ‘At the Doors of the EC and the Home of the VP’. The book was released in Delhi on Monday by AAP supremo and former CM Arvind Kejriwal and former Union minister Kapil Sibal, among others.
Also read | Dhankhar’s exit, ED, ECI in focus in Raut’s new prison chronicles
He has written: “Rumours circulated that Dhankhar and his wife had sold their Jaipur residence and transferred part of the proceeds overseas. The ED, closely tracking their activities, allegedly prepared a file to press charges against the former vice president, alongside other investigative agencies. When whispers emerged of Dhankhar’s independent political moves against the Modi government, ED reportedly presented him with this file, pressuring him to resign. His refusal to comply initially led to intensified scrutiny, leaving him visibly uneasy.”
Raut has even alleged that the ED’s influence extends into monitoring appointments and functioning of judges and even the President of India.
Reacting to the claims, BJP’s chief spokesperson in Maharashtra, Navnath Ban has said: “Just because something is written in a book does not make it the truth; such serious allegations require solid evidence, official documents, or clear statements from the concerned individuals. Making such accusations against people who have served in high constitutional positions is an attempt to create suspicion about the country’s institutions.”
Dhankhar has mostly stayed away from the issue, only recently saying he had not actually resigned because of “health issues”.
He did not go into why he actually resigned then. “I only said I was giving priority to my health, which everyone should do,” he said at Sadulpur in Rajasthan’s Churu district on February 26, 2026.
In the days immediately after Dhankhar’s resignation, political buzz in Delhi said his move to kickstart impeachment process of justice Yashwant Varma on the Opposition-led motion could have been a reason why the government was unhappy with him. He had reportedly asked Opposition leaders to give a notice for the impeachment of justice Varma in the Rajya Sabha, which he chaired as V-P, even as the government wanted to bring the notice only in the Lok Sabha. The former Delhi high court judge faces removal after an undisclosed amount of money was found at his residence in March 2025.
Also read | Why did Jagdeep Dhankhar quit? Buzz links an Oppn-backed notice against judge
Not a single NDA MP signed the Opposition-sponsored notice in the Rajya Sabha, because they apparently had no idea that such a notice was being prepared, HT had reported at the time.
When Dhankhar announced that he had received the motion, it all but derailed the government’s plan to remove justice Varma on its own initiative. A Lok Sabha official told HT back in July, “The government wanted to pass the impeachment motion first in the Lok Sabha. It would have been touted as a success of the government and sent a clear message to the judiciary. But Dhankhar stole the show.”
A furious Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) decided that party chief and Leader of the Rajya Sabha JP Nadda and parliamentary affairs minister Kiren Rijiju would not attend a Business Advisory Committee meeting led by Dhankhar.
Dhankhar then seems to have decided it was time to go. “It takes a lot of power to resign,” one of his aides had told HT, speaking on condition of anonymity.
Besides justice Varma, there were other underlying issues as well, according to Opposition leaders.
Dhankhar had spoken about the “pressure” of his work and how he had “gone out of his way” to accommodate the ruling establishment’s demands. He had also faced a no-confidence motion from the Congress-led Opposition over alleged bias.
