Gandhinagar: The Gujarat government on Tuesday rejected the charge against Central Bureau of Investigation Special Director Rakesh Asthana of allegedly diverting Rs 20 crore from the Police Welfare Fund to the BJP election fund.
The home minister of the state Pradipsinh Jadeja said the allegations have been investigated and there are no such records of any financial diversion during the tenure of Asthana. Jadeja further sees the development as "the ploy to damage the goodwill of BJP."
"People with vested interests are spreading baseless information to malign BJP and Gujarat. Conspirators are trying to derail the development politics that BJP follows while taking an aim at BJP's goodwill," the minister added.
A fresh revelation through an e-mail by a retired police sub-inspector to CBI claimed that the corruption occurred when Asthana was posted as Surat police commissioner and importantly, during Narendra Modi's regime as the Chief Minister of Gujarat. However, the funds were not returned since yet.
The e-mail further claims soon after the misappropriation of funds came to light, the papers relating to Police Welfare Fund had gone missing from the office.