Congress government in Madhya Pradesh, out of the frustration of an imminent defeat in Madhya Pradesh, has decided to reopen a twelve-year-old case against BJP’s candidate from Bhopal Sadhvi Pragya. This move by Congress to reopen a 12-year case against Sadhvi Pragya comes after Congress has been crying foul over multiple raids against relatives and associates of Madhya Pradesh CM Kamal Nath.
State Law Minister PC Sharma said that the Congress-led government in the state will seek a legal opinion on reopening the murder case of ex-RSS pracharak Sunil Joshi, in which Sadhvi Pragya was acquitted.
“We will seek a legal opinion on that report and then take a decision about moving a higher court,” he said. The Congress government also claimed that the then district collector took a decision on his own to shut the case, instead of sending it to the law department for a legal opinion. “The district collector should have sent the report to the law department instead of deciding that there was no need to move a higher court,” he said.
BJP calling out this move to reopen more than a decade old case took aim at Kamal Nath government. “It looks like the MP government is going to take this decision because Pragya Thakur contested the election as BJP candidate against Congress’s Digvijaya Singh. This is politics of revenge,” state BJP spokesman Rajnish Agrawal said.
Sunil Joshi was allegedly shot dead by bike-borne assailants in Chuna Khadan area of Dewas. He was reportedly evading arrest for his alleged role in the murder of a Congress leader. The nomination of Sadhvi Pragya had invited severe criticism from the opposition parties who targeted the BJP over the alleged involvement of Sadhvi Pragya in the 2008 Malegaon blast. The BJP top brass including PM Narendra Modi as well as party chief Amit Shah, however, fiercely defended her nomination.
“It is absolutely a right decision. The allegations against her are baseless. Nothing against her or Swami Aseemanad have been proved,” Amit Shah said while addressing a media conference.
Earlier, the Income Tax department had detected tax evasion of more than Rs 1,350 after multiple raids and seizures from Hindustan Powerprojects, a company owned by the nephew of Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Kamal Nath, according to sources. Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) had conducted raids at multiple locations in NCR, Bhopal, Indore and Goa by the Delhi unit of the Directorate General of Income-tax (Investigation) based on “credible information” of large scale collection, possession and movement of unaccounted assets. Refraining from naming the group CBDT had also added, “The search action was undertaken on the basis of credible information and has led to detection of large scale tax evasion of more than Rs 1,350 crore.” Ratul Puri, the nephew of Kamal Nath, is the owner of Hindustan Powerprojects, on which raids were conducted on April 7