‘ED given more powers than police’: Rajasthan CM Ashok Gehlot slams Modi govt

Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot slammed the Modi government on Monday and said the Enforcement Directorate (ED) has been given more power than the police and they can now arrest anyone without justifying themselves.

Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot on Monday attacked the Modi government and said, “The Supreme Court put a stamp on the powers of the Enforcement Directorate (ED). It does not even have to justify its action now and can arrest anyone. It has been given more powers than the police.”

The chief minister was speaking at an event to review budget schemes in Jaipur.

Gehlot further said, “There is politics of one religion going on in this country. This nation had never seen such a thing. People are worried but they are scared and unable to speak from the fear of ED.”

Gehlot's statement comes amidst the ED's arrests of several leaders belonging to opposition parties. The probe agency arrested Shiv Sena MP Sanjay Raut on Sunday in connection with a money laundering case linked to redevelopment of a chawl project in Mumbai. Earlier, it also arrested now suspended TMC leader Partha Chatterjee after it found more than Rs 20 crore in cash at the residence of his aide, Arpita Mukherjee.

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Gehlot also attacked PM Modi and said the prime minister did not act on his request to issue an appeal for non-violence following the beheading of a tailor in Udaipur. “After the killing in Udaipur, if the arrests had not been made swiftly, there could have been communal riots in the state, in the country. I prevented that. I asked PM Modi to issue an appeal to people to say that violence will not be tolerated. He did not do that,” said Gehlot.

He added, “He asked people to take part in ‘taali-thaali’ during the pandemic but did not make an appeal to not indulge in violence.”