Sanjay Raut's Arrest: Selective Use Of Central Agencies?
By A Special Correspondent
First publised on 2022-08-01 10:15:32
About the Author
After raiding
his Bhandup bungalow on Sunday and recovering Rs 11.5L in cash and other
documents, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) finally arrested Shiv Sena
(Thackeray faction) leader Sanjay Raut close to midnight after he was questioned
for nearly 7 hours at the ED office for his role in the Rs 1200cr Patra Chawl
redevelopment case. ED sources said they needed to question him about his
association with several of his close aides including his business dealings
with them. They said that they have found many property papers and land deeds in
the name of his wife which they need to investigate.
The
opposition, though, termed it as another instance of the BJP misusing central
agencies against its critics. Sanjay Raut has been one of the most vocal
critics of the BJP even before Eknath Shinde caused a split in the party and
brought down the MVA government with BJP's help. Uddhav Thackeray termed Raut's
arrest a "dangerous conspiracy" while both the Congress and the NCP rallied
behind Raut. However, chief minister Eknath Shinde said that Raut should not be
afraid of the ED action if he has done nothing wrong while the BJP said that
Raut has to bear the consequences of not attending the summons issued by ED.
Although
investigating huge scams is the duty of CBI and ED, the fact that this is being
done against only leaders from opposition parties leaves the BJP open to the
charge of being selective in using the central agencies. The list of such
leaders targeted by these agencies all over India is long and often includes
those who are most vocal in criticizing the BJP or whose parties are considered
a threat. Does this mean that there are no BJP leaders involved in scams? For
instance, why are the CBI and the ED not investigating the corruption scam in
Karnataka which led to the suicide of a civil contractor and the resignation of
K S Eshwarappa, the state minister for Rural Development & Panchayati Raj?
Or the PSI scam in the same state?
