The Gujarat High Court has rejected the plea of BJP leaders against criminal proceedings in the Rs 400-Crore fisheries scam.
The Gujarat High Court has rejected a plea filed by BJP minister Parshottam Solanki and former cabinet minister Dilip Sanghani challenging criminal proceedings initiated by a special ACB court in Gandhinagar regarding a 10-year-old Rs 400-crore fisheries scam. The court has instructed both leaders to approach the ACB court and file a discharge application to be exonerated from the alleged offence. The court will then decide the matter on its merits.
Rajesh Ruparel, counsel for Sanghani, stated, "We had filed the application against the process issued by the court in the alleged offence in 2015. However, the court has asked us to first approach the special ACB court where the proceedings have been ongoing, and let the court decide on the issue."
Allegations include that Solanki, the former fisheries minister and current minister of labor and employment, had allocated fishing contracts at the state reservoirs at very low rates through corrupt means, resulting in a Rs 400 crore loss to the government exchequer. Sanghani, the former cabinet minister of fisheries, reportedly stated that he approved the contracts in an attempt to protect Solanki. However, complainant Ishak Maradia also included him as an accused in the High Court. In response to the High Court's direction, the Gandhinagar police had conducted an investigation into the case. Although they had cleared the ministers, the court rejected their report and initiated criminal proceedings in 2015.
It has been ten years since Maradia filed a petition in the High Court, alleging that Solanki had engaged in corruption by awarding fishing contracts at greatly reduced rates.
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