The Rajasthan high court on Wednesday exonerated Union minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat in connection with the Sanjivani Credit Cooperative Society scam case, in a verdict that the senior Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader hailed as the victory of truth.
A single bench of justice Arun Monga disposed of a petition filed by Shekhawat — tourism and culture minister — seeking quashing of the case against him. The order came after the special operations group (SOG), which had filed a first information report (FIR) against the BJP leader, submitted a detailed report in the court stating there was no incriminating evidence against him in the case.
The court said there was no point in maintaining the petition if the SOG has not found petitioner’s involvement. It also clarified that SOG cannot further investigate against Shekhawat without taking permission from the trial court.
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The Sanjivani scam, under investigation since 2019, pertains to accusation of defrauding thousands of investors to the tune of ₹900 crore. Shekhawat’s name first surfaced when then chief minister Ashok Gehlot publicly alleged the involvement of the BJP leader and his family in the scam last year.
The high court had on April 13, 2023 granted Shekhawat relief from arrest. It had come days after the SOG submitted an initial factual report naming Shekhawat as an accused for the first time, claiming he served as a director of Navprabha Buildtech Private Limited, a firm involved in the scam, from November 3, 2005 till March 10, 2014.
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On Wednesday, however, the SOG said Shekhawat had resigned from the post of director from all these companies and thus cannot be held responsible for the acts done post his resignation as a director in the companies. The detail report came after the high court on September 17 directed the SOG to file a response to the query whether it intended to file a charge sheet against Shekhawat.
Senior counsel Vivek Raj Bajwa, representing Shekhawat, said despite several charge sheets being filed since the FIR was registered in 2019, Shekhawat was neither named as an accused nor listed in the FIR.
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Shekhawat termed the court’s order as a “triumph of the truth” and said it was mere an attempt to malign his reputation and frame him in the matter.
“It was an attempt to drag me into this case due to the frustration caused by his political ambitions, loss of his son in the election and victory of the BJP,” Shekhawat said, in an apparent dig at former chief minister Ashok Gehlot, whose son Vaibhav had lost to the BJP leader in 2019 Lok Sabha polls from Jodhpur constituency.
