Rajasthan’s Ex-minister booked over criminal conspiracy, cheating and documents extortion case

Pramod Jain Bhaya, a former minister of Rajasthan in the previous Ashok Gehlot government, and three other people were booked on Wednesday night at the Baran city police station for extortion, criminal conspiracy, and cheating under various sections of the IPC, according to an official.

Former mining minister Bhaya, also known as “gopalan” (cow care) minister, was previously charged on January 1 at the Anta police station with criminal conspiracy and forging false documents. The case is still being investigated.

In the police complaint, BJP ward councillor Dilip Shakywal, the leader of opposition in the Baran Municipal Council, claimed that Ankit Jian, also known as Bordia, Sunil Yadav, Sharad Sharma, and Naresh Tantrik mined and transported soil illegally on the former minister’s behalf without a lease over government pasture and revenue land that bordered the Baran collectorate on Kota Road.

As reported by PTI, he also accused Bhaya of stocking and selling the same causing a revenue loss of around Rs 90 corer to the state government. Police lodged a case against Bhaya and four others under sections 420 (cheating and dishonesty), 384 (extortion), 413 (dealing in stolen property), 426 (mischief), 379 (theft) of the IPC and sections of the MM(DR) Act on Wednesday evening, said SHO at the Baran city police station Ramvilas Meena on Thursday.

To verify allegations in the complaint, related documents are yet to be collected from the departments and concerned statements of officials and people allegedly involved are yet to be recorded, he said, according to PTI.

In a related case, Bhaya and Mustafa Khan, the chairman of the Anta municipality in the Baran district, were on Monday charged under multiple sections with conspiring to sanction tenders worth crores of rupees even after the model code of conduct for the Assembly elections was put into effect.

Bhaya and the chairman of the municipality were accused of using forged documents with a “back date” to approve and open tenders for the Anta municipality, even after the model code of conduct was put into effect on September 9, 2023.

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