JAIPUR: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) conducted searches on Tuesday at premises linked to junior Rajasthan home minister Rajendra Yadav's two sons and an associate over alleged fraud in the midday meal scheme.
The ED has clarified that Yadav - a key figure in the Ashok Gehlot-led Congress government - is not directly linked to the case, but his businessmen sons Tribhuvan and Madhur are.
The agency identified the associate as one Kanwaljeet Ranawat. Tribhuvan and Madhur allegedly supply packaging material for the midday meals and stay separately from their father in flats in Jaipur.
The searches at the Jaipur flats, Aurangabad and other locations come a day after PM Narendra Modi visited Rajasthan and hurled graft charges at the Gehlot government ahead of assembly polls later this year.
Later in the day, Yadav slammed the swoops while declaring that he would not be "intimidated by the ED raids and would remain with Congress". "I am not hungry for power. I will contest the polls but remain in Congress. The party stands with me and I am also capable of fighting my battle," Yadav said when asked if there was pressure to join BJP even as the searches continued.
The ED action follows income-tax raids a few weeks ago and is based on a money-laundering case registered almost a fortnight ago against Madhusudan, Tribhuvan and Ranawat. "It is related to fraud and forgery in the mid-day meal programme," said an officer.
Sources said the matter was related to irregularities linked to a factory that is engaged in packaging of mid-day meals. ED claimed to have recovered "incriminating documents", electronic evidence and other items in the searches.
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