Shekhawat: Union minister Shekhawat sues Rajasthan CM Gehlot for defamation over scam ‘barbs’ | India News

JAIPUR: Union minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat on Saturday sued Rajasthan chief minister Ashok Gehlot for alleged defamatory remarks against him and his late mother over a state co-operative scam in which investors allegedly lost about Rs 900 crore. Rajasthan police have been investigating the Sanjivani co-operative scam since August 2019. The society is accused of luring investors with exorbitant returns and defrauding them.
Delhi’s Rouse Avenue court, where the defamation suit was filed, has listed the matter for Monday. Speaking after the filing, BJP leader Shekhawat said the CM had indulged “in character assassination” by making such statements over the past three years in the assembly and outside, not sparing even his late mother. Gehlot “welcomed” the suit, saying it would help the case “move forward” and insisting Shekhawat and his family are accused in the probe. “This case will go ahead on this pretext (defamation suit), it will be good for those people, whose money has been lost. The issue will get national attention,” he said. “About 2 to 2.5 lakh investors’ money was swindled. Some people lost Rs 1 crore, some Rs 50 lakh,” the CM said. He asked “where the money has gone”, before wondering whether it was “Ethiopia”. Shekhawat has plantations in Ethiopia.