ED, IT recover incriminating documents against Himachal CM's confidants in raids: BJP

Shimla: The BJP alleged on Wednesday that the ED and IT department have recovered incriminating documents in the raids conducted recently and two close confidants of Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu are involved in scams worth crores.

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) and Income Tax (IT) department sleuths had conducted raids on the establishments and houses of some businessmen and contractors on June 29 and July 4 in Himachal's Hamirpur and Kangra districts. The investigation agencies collected documents after conducting raids at jewellery shops, petrol pumps and crushers.

In a statement issued here, the BJP leaders alleged that the ED has drawn certain inferences regarding large scale "illegal mining" and found that Himachal chief minister's "close confidants Gian Chand and Pratap Chand" are involved in multi-crore "scams".

The ED has found evidence of Rs 8 crore being deposited in cash in a single account and it appears that the government openly favoured them, causing huge loss to state exchequer according to news reports, it said.

In a video statement, BJP MLA from Dharamshala, Sudhir Sharma, alleged that documents regarding land deals, cash transactions and tenders being managed by tweaking rules have been found during the recent raids conducted by the ED and the IT in the premises of some stone crushers and owners of hotels close to Sukhu.

In another video statement, BJP candidate for Dehra assembly seat bypoll, Hoshiyar Singh, took a jibe at Sukhu and said his government is a "government of friends" as the chief minister is giving benefits to his friends.

Of all the crushers in the area, the crusher where raids were conducted was the only one which was operational during the monsoon calamity last year, Singh added.