The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has launched a massive protest against the Rajasthan government in Jaipur over the allegations of corruption. To stop the protesters from marching to the secretariat, police used water cannons and barriers.
Videos from the protest site showed police trying to disperse the protesters with water cannons.
Accusing Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot of corruption, BJP Rajya Sabha MP Kirodi Meena today said his party will expose corrupt practices of minister Shanti Dhariwal and scams related to mines and Jal Jeevan Mission in the state.
Addressing party workers before the protest, Mr Meena claimed there was a scam of Rs 5,000 crore in the Department of Information and Technology (DoIT) but when the Anti-Corruption Bureau wanted permission to investigate, the chief minister refused.
Mr Meena claimed for the first time in the country, Rs 2.31 crore cash and gold were recovered from an almirah at a government building.
The cash and gold were seized from a locked almirah in the basement of Yojna Bhawan last month, following which a joint director of the DoIT was arrested by Jaipur police.
"Corruption is rampant under Gehlot government. Sixteen papers of competitive exams were held in one year in Rajasthan and all of them were leaked. Now, the Enforcement Directorate has come and started investigation, and therefore Gehlot is afraid," Mr Meena said.
Earlier this month, the Enforcement Directorate conducted searches at multiple locations in Rajasthan in connection with the exam paper leaks case.
Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot accused the Centre of misusing its investigative agencies and said the ED searches in the state were "anticipated" as the assembly elections are approaching.
He questioned why the ED was "intervening" when the state's Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) was doing such a "good job" in investigating the leak of papers of the government's teacher recruitment exam.
The state has witnessed a few instances where it was alleged that exam question papers for recruitment of teachers were leaked to aspirants, including in 2021 during the hiring of teachers by the state education board and during last year in a test conducted by the Rajasthan Public Service Commission (RPSC).
The Special Operations Group (SOG) of the Rajasthan Police, which is investigating the paper leaks, had arrested former RPSC member Babulal Katara, his nephew and driver in April in connection with the senior teacher paper leak case of 2022.
The exam was cancelled after the paper was widely shared on social media before the commencement of the exam.
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